


Left Behind

by DynoStretch



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 21,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23450110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DynoStretch/pseuds/DynoStretch
Summary: Taking place a year after the events of the game, Link has returned back to his home village to find it in a bad state. But worst of all, his closest friend has gone through a shocking experience, and it's going to take more then just the courage of the legendary hero to fix their broken bonds.
Relationships: Link/Ilia
Kudos: 5





	1. Return to Ordon

**Author's Note:**

> Hello fanfiction readers, writers and flamers, from my bizarre mind I bring you this piece of Zelda fanfiction. The story takes place about a year after the events of Twilight Princess' ending, and while I'm trying to follow the canon of the game, there might be a hiccup or two in the continuity, as it's been forever since I played the game. 
> 
> Regardless, I do hope you guys like this story!

\---

A lone male figure, riding on a horse moved steadily through the forest grove of Ordona Province. A small flower monster called a Deku Baba popped out from it's hiding place, ready to snipe the man with a projectile nut to the head, but one glare from said man at the Baba sent the creature back into hiding. The man kept traveling to their destination as the Baba peeked back out nervously.

The figure soon stopped the horse upon reaching a wooden sign all too familiar to them. It read 'Ordon Village'. The figure gulped a little, looking towards his destination.

'Been a long time since I've been here…' he thought '…maybe a whole year by this point? I wonder what they'll think now that I've returned…'

The man was a young healthy 20 year old. Sporting blonde hair, blue eyes, an athletic physic, and donning a green tunic and cap. He was known as the legendary hero of Hyrule, Link. He had been born in Ordon Village, and lived there as a talented rancher for a long 18 years before some villagers had been abducted by marauders. He had set off to their rescue, but got caught up in a destiny chosen by the great goddesses of the land, to team up with a fallen princess and save two worlds from a legion of dark powers.

Link returned to his life back in Ordon Village shortly afterwards, but much to everyone's shock, a few weeks later he disappeared, without a word to anyone.

'Well, here goes nothing…' he thought as he clicked his heels on his horse, named Epona, to keep moving into the village. However, he was unaware that he was being watched by a shadowy figure in the trees.

Upon entering the village, Link shouted, "Hey everyone! I've retur-"

Link's call was almost instantly cut off when the shadowy figure leapt from its hiding place and attacked Link, smashing into him and knocking him off his trusty steed.

"Hey!" Link shouted, laying on the ground with the figure on top of him, "Who was th-"

"Silence fiend!" shouted the figure, who was now starting to sound very familiar. "No one enters this place without paying the toll!"

"Hi Talo…" Link muttered. "Can you get off me now?"

"First toll, then I get off!" The figure, now identified as the young, brash kid of Ordon Village, Talo. He was folding his arms smugly as he sat on Link's back.

"Come on Talo, he's a special, extra-cute case, so he gets the discount rate." said another more friendly voice. Link looked over to see a mischievous young girl he identified as Beth. Alongside her was a young blonde boy named Colin and a short, infant-looking boy named Malo. "Link, it's been a long time!"

"Y-You're back Mr. Link!" Colin said , "I'm glad y-you're safe!"

"…bout time you got back…" muttered Malo, glancing to the side darkly.

"Hey kids, I'd get up to greet you, but I have an annoying thing on my back." Link said in an annoyed tone as he was reaching behind, trying to pull Talo off him.

Beth just grinned, walking up to Link and pinching his right cheek really hard. "It's okay, he just wants to make sure you don't up and leave again!"

Link glanced to the side nervously. "Point taken. Can I get up now?"

Talo reluctantly got off Link, who finally stood up straight. "Glad to see you guys are okay. How's the village?"

"Eh, could be better." Beth said.

"Really? How so?" Link asked.

His question was almost immediately answered as a herd of goats charged by them, all baaing loudly. A few villagers were following after them in pursuit. Link also noticed how many of the houses were worse for wear, some with large cracks, debris cluttered everywhere, and he could swear the local tavern had a fishing boat sticking out of one of it's walls. A few monkeys were clamoring around on various buildings. As one villager was applying some fishing touches to a house he was repairing, a monkey jumped across the roof, causing the entire house to collapse.

"I…. see…" Link said as a drop of sweat ran down his head.

"Let's just say things have been real bad since you left." Beth said, "Heck, you should see poor Ilia."

"Ilia…" muttered Link, thinking about his longtime childhood friend. He turned his head to the home of Ordon's mayor Bo, and his daughter Ilia.

"Honestly I think she's been through the worst of it. She's really changed." Beth said with a sigh.

"Maybe I should go talk to them and find out how things ended up this way." Link said, walking off towards the house. The kids just watched as Link left.

"Hmmm, yep, all this time has passed and Link still wins the Cutest Butt Award." Beth said grinning.

"What are you, a perverted old man?" asked Talo.

\---

Link soon arrived at the mayor's house, where Bo was hammering at a broken fence on his house's patio. He turned to Link and waved.

"Link my boy, is that you?" he asked, "It's been too long!"

"Mayor Bo!" Link greeted, "It's great to see you again!"

The mayor dropped his tools, walked right up to Link, and gave him a spine-breaking hug.

"Hahaha!" he shouted "You look as if you haven't changed a bit!"

"Urk!" Link gasped, feeling his waist getting crushed under Bo's powerful grip. "I'm glad to be back, but can you let go of me before I snap in half?!"

Bo unceremoniously dropped Link to the ground "Ha, you may have done well against me in sumo-wrestling, but if you can't even take a simple hug from me you won't stand a chance in a tournament!"

"That was simple?!" Link shouted with an exaggerated jaw drop.

Link decided at that point to change the subject. "So, what's going on around here?" he asked. "I left for a while, returned, and the whole village is an uproar."

Bo's expression went from jolly to depressed as he let out a sigh. "Seems we haven't had much luck around here. We thought things would be more peaceful once you kicked that bastard dark legion out of the kingdom, but a lot of their goons have been assembling into gangs, and attacking towns."

"How many times has this happened here?" Link asked, looking out at the wrecked town.

"In the past year we've been attacked about three times. They seem to come every few months or so." Bo said. "Also without your skill in goat-wrangling and dealing with the wild monkeys, rebuilding hasn't been easy."

Link grimaced a little. "I=I'm sorry… I didn't realize I had caused you guys so much trouble leaving."

Bo panicked and held up his hands "Er, I'm sorry for phrasing it like that. I didn't mean to make it sound like we have to depend on you for everything!"

"Thanks, but I do feel some responsibility for this." Link said. "Um, by the way, where's Ilia? I wanted to see her."

"Oh, Ilia…?" Bo said nervously, "She's up in her room. You're welcome to go see her,… but I don't think you'd want to talk to her right now…"

"It'll be fine." Link said, walking through the front door, "I've seen her at her worse."

As Link entered Bo and Ilia's house, he called out "Ilia, It's me, Link! I'm back!"

No answer.

"Ilia?" Link called out as he went over to the ladder that led up to her floor of the house. "Hey, I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I was hoping we could have a chat about how you've been since… I… left…" His words started to slow down and come to a stop when he finally was high enough to look into her room and see Ilia.

While it was easy to recognize her short blonde hair, and green eyes, that's where the familiarly ended. Ilia was sitting on her bed, reading a book with one hand, while her other hand was reaching out to a large plate of sweet rolls set by her. She was blindly taking them from the plate and eating them as she gazed at the book. She was always a trim, small girl, but now it seemed she had put on a considerable amount of weight. She wasn't just a little pudgy, but straight-out obese, even more so then her father. Replacing her standard white dress and brown shorts was a large tent dress that hugged her larger figure.

Besides her body size, her demeanor had also changed quite a lot. Her once bright and gentle self now looked angry and bored. She turned her head to Link, looking at him coldly.

"I-Ilia…" Link muttered, "Wha-"

Ilia just took another roll from her plate and bit into it, chewing it and staring at Link. She swallowed and muttered a cold "Get out."

"I-Ilia, you-"

"Get out! Get out! Get out!" She shouted angrily, grabbing a vase and throwing it at Link's head. He quickly dodged it, but a book managed to bean him.

"Ilia wait, I-"

But Link couldn't get a word in as Ilia started throwing more and more stuff at him. He quickly shifted left and right as he gripped the ladder, avoiding chairs, books, pottery and a raccoon, until he was finally hit by a stool which caused him to fall off the ladder and land on his back.

"Get out of here you bastard!" Link heard Ilia shout from the second floor.

"So… I take it you didn't want to talk?" he asked, still laying on the floor, twitching in pain.

That's when Ilia's bed came hurling down.

\---

"Wow Link, she was cross with you in the past, but the whole bed?" asked Uli, wife of Link's mentor Rusl, and mother of Colin, dabbing at a bruise on Link's face with a piece of cotton with alcohol on it. Bo had managed to pull Link's wounded body out from under the bed and carried him off to Uli and Rusl's house for treatment.

"Yeah, I think I should have just ran after the first vase…" Link groaned, cringing in pain as the alcohol stung.

"Just be glad she wasn't near my blacksmithing anvil." Bo said, "Jagger is still in bad shape after a stupid joke he told."

"Mr. Link, are you okay?" Colin asked, looking at him with his biggest, poutiness look. "I-I can't believe Ilia did all that to you of all people."

"Yeah, don't worry. I've dealt with worse during my journey. By the way, have you been keeping up with your sword training?"

"Y-Yeah!" Colin said, pumping his fists. "I wanted to show you how I improved!"

"Okay," Link said grinning, "maybe when I'm better we can have a little practice. I've learned a few new techniques myself."

Colin nodded eagerly and ran out the door to practice more.

"He's always trying to put on a strong face around the village," Uli said, smiling warmly, "But he always gets nervous when he's around you Link."

"Oh don't flatter the guy," Rusl said with a smug grin, as he drank some booze, "Link was always like that with me when he was still a kid!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Link muttered, leaning his chin on his palm. He looked over to Bo, looking a little more serious. "Bo, I... wanted to ask you about Ilia…"

Bo raised an eyebrow in response. Uli and Rusl just looked to each other nervously.

"Just what is it that happened to her?" Link asked. "She looks so…"

Bo frowned a bit as Link paused.

"…depressed." Link finished.

Bo's expression lightened a little. He sighed and said "Well I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this. She's been acting like this since right around the time you left."

"I…I thought so…" Link said sadly.

"Which reminds me…" said Rusl, "What exactly was with you leaving like you did? You just went up and left the village without so much as a goodbye."

"Yes, where did you go?" Uli asked, "We were going to invite you to dinner that night, but Bo and Ilia said you left with Epona."

"Erm…" Link started, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as the three adults stared at him, waiting for a response. "It's a long story… let's just say I was looking for something…"

"Well I don't see why that's any excuse to not tell us." said Uli, who despite sporting a sweet smile, was purposely dabbing a little extra alcohol on one of Link's bigger wounds, causing him to cringe so badly his hair stood on end.

"R-Regardless of that," Link said, "I do plan to help fix things around here. I've come home, and I don't plan on leaving again." He paused for a bit "That is, if you guys will have me back."

Bo just gave a wide grin. "Of course Link, we wouldn't let our best ranch-hand get away!"

"Yes, Colin would be thrilled to know you're back for good." Uli said, "and I can't wait to show you how much our daughter Emma has grown!"

"Fine, fine." Rusl said, gulping some more booze. "Just don't go taking off without a warning again."

"Alright then, I have to get the goats and monkeys under control, see what I can do about those marauders, and try and fix things with Ilia!" Link said, standing up. "I'll settle things in no time!"

Link then took two steps before falling on his face.

"Owwww… my legs…"

"Maybe you should get some rest first." Uli suggested.

"Maybe I should…" Link muttered.

\--


	2. Taking Care of Buisness

\---

Not far from Ordon Village, a pack of goats were wandering around, eating grass, and doing other goat-related matters. One the goats rose it's head up, sensing something. The other goats turned to it, wondering what was the matter. The lead goat broke out into a cold sweat as it heard a certain sound. It hadn't heard this sound in a long time, but the goat could never forget it.

The goats all turned in the direction of the sound to see a large brown horse charging at them, and on her back was a familiar young blonde haired man, grinning evilly.

"Hey boys, remember us?" Link shouted to the goats.

The goats all baaed loudly in sync, their bodies were trembling as tears ran down their eyes. They all turned tail and ran as Link and Epona followed after them.

The villagers of Ordon village all watched as the goats ran right into the village, mindful not to knock anymore stuff over then they usually did. They all ran into their ranch pen, and the last one to run in used his mouth to close the door behind him.

"Well I'll be…" said one of the villagers.

"Only one guy can herd the goats like that…" said another.

\---

Needless to say, Link's return was the talk of the town. Many of them asked questions about what where he had gone, or what he had seen, or in the case of some of the younger guys what the ladies were like in other places. Link tried to answer as best he could while remaining vague about his reasons for leaving.

\---

"HOOOIII! LIIIINK!"

Link groaned as he forced himself out of bed, almost stumbling out in the process.

"Alright I'm up I'm up…" Link muttered. He quickly got dressed and climbed down the ladder to see Rusl calling out to him.

"Hey Link, the goats need to be herded back into the pen, can you give us a hand?"

"Yeah, sure, I just need to get Epona and I'll be… be…."

Link's head lowered as he fell asleep again, a bubble rising out from his nose.

"All this time and you're still a heavy sleeper." Rusl said. He pulled out his sword and poked Link's bubble, causing it to pop and instantly wake Link up.

"Gah! Okay, I'm going!"" Link said, rushing off to go track down Epona.

\---

It didn't take long for Link to find Epona. In a small lake not too far outside the village known as Ordon Spring. It was home to the spirit of light Ordona, a mystical being who helped Link begin his quest to save Hyrule.

Usually though, this was where Ilia often escorted Epona to in order to clean and heal the horse. Sure enough when Link reached the spring, there was Epona, snorting and swinging her tail about, while his childhood friend was standing by her, softly brushing the horse's hair. She still wore the tent dress from yesterday, along with some long brown pants, and was humming a soft little tune as she brushed Epona.

Link, having not seen Ilia since their little encounter back at Bo's house, gulped nervously as he walked up to the girl and horse.

"H-Hey, Ilia?"

Ilia just stopped her cleaning. She stood still and just stared at Epona.

"…she's really been through a lot since you left… she has a few injuries and scars I don't remember her having…" Ilia muttered.

"Sorry…" Link said, "We got into a few mishaps during the time we were out."

"…don't apologize to me, apologize to Epona." Ilia said, going back to tending Epona's injuries.

"S-So… I take it you're still upset about me leaving…?" Link asked pointlessly, already knowing the answer.

"…upset? Why what ever gave you that idea…?" Ilia asked darkly, her hand was clenched and crushed the brush she was holding in half. Link and Epona's faces paled.

"Ilia…" Link said, "I heard about how upset you were about me leaving… I… had some important things to do and…"

"A-And you thought you should just up and leave without telling anyone?" Ilia asked, she was clearly starting to tremble. "Did you not even care what anyone would think if you just ran off for good?!"

"I… I didn't want anyone finding out, because I didn't know when, or if, I'd be back…" Link said. "I was afraid you might try and stop me…"

"….E-Epona should be good and ready now…" Ilia said. She slowly waddled out from the lake, got onto dry land, and with some effort, leaned down and rug the water out from her pants. "Just go easier on her okay...?"

"Okay…" Link said as he watched her waddle slowly off back to the village before going to retrieve Epona.

\---

A group of monkeys were lounging around the house of one of the villagers. They had managed to scare the family away and claimed the place as their own. One was hanging by his tail making loud ook sounds, one was using his feet to pick up bananas and squeezing them until the fruit shot into his mouth, one was parading around in a dress he found, and a rather big monkey was sleeping on a throne he built with lumber from the house, snoring loudly. The banana-eating monkey casually threw a banana peel through the air and it landed in some nearby bushes.

"Ewww-!" said a voice from the bushes, but the voice was quickly silenced. The monkeys looked oddly at the bushes, only to resume their activities two seconds later.

"Quiet down Beth, they'll hear you!" Link said in a loud whisper from behind the bushes. Along with him were Talo, Beth, Colin and Malo.

Beth pulled the peel off her head muttered "Ugh, I hate those filthy smell apes…"

"Ha, yer such a girl!" Talo said.

"Oh yeah?" Beth said, "Why don't you go chat with them, I bet you stupid, dirty, smelly boys would get along great!"

"Who you calling dirty?!"

"P-Please stop fighting so loudly… at least fight quietly…" Colin said nervously.

"….can we just get on with this?" Malo asked, not even bothering to have to duck due to his tiny size.

"Okay, let's get started with Operation: Monkey See Monkey Gone!" Link said.

"….do you have a backup plan with a less-stupid name?" Malo asked, glancing to the side.

"Did you guys bring the stuff I asked for?" Link asked, ignoring Malo.

"Yep!" Talo said proudly, holding up a beehive still attached to a branch.

"I got this…" Colin said, pulling out a jar of molasses.

"Perfect, now we just need some of these guys…" Link said, pulling out a sack of small little bug-like creatures.

"Eh? What are they?" Beth asked.

"….aren't those Bomblings?" Malo asked. He paused for a few seconds and muttered "Good plan…"

As the monkeys continued to create a riot, the one dangling by his tail noticed a Bombling walking right up to them. All the monkeys stopped their activities and stared down at it in confusion. The biggest one noticed it had a jar of black stuff tied to it. The monkeys all looked to each other in confusion, not aware of what it actually was.

Then it happened, the Bombling exploded. The explosion was very weak, but left the monkeys covered in the molasses from head to toe. They all stood still and blankly, not able to comprehend what just happened.

The biggest monkey forced himself up, angry about being covered in the sticky goo and shouted out. The others followed suit, shouting and thrashing about.

Then came down the beehive.

The hive broke upon hitting the ground, unleashing a huge swarm of bees. The monkeys' eyes all shrunk down to the size of dots as the swarm loomed overhead, sensed the sweet nectar the monkeys were covered in, and then dived down.

Needless to say, it didn't take too long before the sticky monkeys ran out of the village, being pursued by the bees.

"Whoo!" Talo said, raising his fists in triumph. "Monkey crisis averted!"

"T-That worked perfectly, a deadly bee weapon!" Colin said, his eyes sparkling.

"We can always count on you to handle any crazy animal situations Link!" Beth said, putting her hands to her cheeks and blushing.

"…well, I guess I have no choice." Malo muttered before turning and walking off.

"Eh, where you going Malo?" Link asked.

"…since we've scared off the monkey hoard, shouldn't we celebrate?" Malo said, holding up a bag of rupees. "I'll treat…"

Link and the kids all grinned and followed after Malo.

\---

At the Ordon marketplace, some traveling merchants had set up stands and carriages, eager to sell their supplies to the villagers. One particular older looking man had set up a table of various sweets and pastries.

"Hey Tort!" shouted a merchant nearby the old man, "How's business been?"

"Oh, very good." Tort said, scratching his rather massive forehead. "I didn't use to come back here as often as I do now. I relay on a repeat customer who loves me and the wife's cooking. In fact, judging from the sun, she should be coming right about now."

"Hello Mr. Trot!" said a voice. Tort looked over to see Ilia, clad in a large spring dress and hat. She had a large basket of goods in one hand and waving with the other. She waddled slowly up to Tort's stand and looked over his supply.

"Ilia, my dear!" Tort said, "Going shopping for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, father's been getting bored of fish every night, so I purchased some cucco meat. I'm hoping to try out a new ingredient, like tangerines to go with it." She said, sporting a small smile.

"So, are you here for your usual, two dozen sweet rolls?" he asked, lifting up a large box and placing it down on the stand. Ilia just stared at the box longingly, she could feel her mouth water at the thought.

"Ooooh yes!" she said. "Are you sure you can't sell me the recipe?"

"Sorry, but no dice." chuckled Tort. "With your cooking skills you'd put me out of business!"

As Ilia was about to pay for the sweet rolls, she heard someone shout "Make way! Vanquishers of monkeys coming!"

Ilia blinked and looked over at Talo, raising a wooden sword and swinging it around, while Beth, Colin, Malo and Link were following.

"Hey, quit swinging around that sword, you're gonna hurt someone!" Link said.

"Ha, a true warrior like me won't hurt any innocent perso-"

It was then that Talo realized he just accidently poked Link in the stomach with his sword.

"You little brat!" Link said grabbing Talo's cheeks and stretching them. Beth took that chance to jump on Link's back, knocking the three of them over. With Talo and Beth having fallen on top of Link's back, the three of them started laughing.

Ilia just watched how bright and happy Link was, it gave her the faintest of smiles. She snapped out of it quickly when she heard Tort nervously shout "O-Oh hello Mr. Malo!"

"….ello." Malo said, staring up at Tort. "How's your business handling Tort?"

"V-very good Mr. Malo!" Tort said sweating, "I wanted to thank you again for helping to plot out our trade route through Hyrule!"

"….good." he looked up at Ilia, who broke out into a bit of a sweat. Malo just stared up at her before nodding. "Ms. Ilia." He then walked off to go speak with the other merchants.

Ilia stood blankly as Link, Beth, Talo and Colin all walked up along side her. "I gotta wonder how that little guy could become such a huge influence on the Hylian trade system…" Link said. He turned to Ilia who was doing her best to hide her face under her hat.

"H-Hey Ilia, I like your new hat, where'd you get it?" Link asked.

"Um… it was…" Ilia stammered.

"Ms. Ilia?" asked Tort, "Did you still want your regular order?"

Link grinned, "Pastries huh? You've always liked sweet stuff as a kid."

Ilia then gulped and blurted out "Ah… um… A-Actually I'd just like to get three sweet rolls today Mr. Tort!"

Tort paused for a few seconds before flinching in terror, a wave of wrinkles ran up his forehead "T-THREE?!"

"Is something wrong…?" Link asked.

"Well… it's… I…"

Luckily for Ilia, she didn't have to say anything else as a loud horn started to bellow out across the village. Everyone stopped their activities and became motionless. All sound had died out aside from the loud horn bellowing across the village.

"T-They're back…" Beth said.

"N-No way!" Talo said, "Is it already that time?!"

"Already what time?" Link asked in confusion.

"It's the Black Jackals…" muttered Tort, adjusting his glasses. "We're in deep trouble…"

\---


	3. The Wild Bandits

\---

"Who did you just say is coming?" Link asked as the loud horn sounded off.

"The Black Jackals…" muttered Tort, "That's their warning call."

"Just who are these Black Jackals?" Link asked.

"They're a bunch of no-good, creepy jerk monsters that attack our village!" Talo shouted, stomping his foot.

"T-They show up every few months. They're the only ones who ever attack us, but they're a huge group." Colin said.

"We've tried to fight them off before, but they keep overpowering the town, and steal whatever they want." Beth said nervously, clinging to Link's hand.

"….they're bad for business." Malo said.

"That's all you have to say about them?" Link asked Malo.

The ground around them then started to rumble. Many merchants quickly started packing up their stands, throwing them onto their carts and carriages and riding off. People still in their homes started closing doors and windows. Some people outside panicked and jumped into bales of hay and behind bushes. A cat that was stuck up a tree quickly ran into a hole where some squirrels were living and the squirrels closed off the hole. A group of horses who were galloping around the fields stopped in their tracks and leaped into the lake, where they hid under some lilypads with frogs on them. The frogs promptly jumped off the pads and into the water.

Link looked around and narrowed his eyes. "Kids, Ilia, you guys better get out of here. I'll have to be ready to take on these guys." He said.

"No way!" shouted Talo, "We're not going to ditch you! We wanna fight!"

"…speak for yourself…" muttered Malo as he walked off casually towards his house.

"I can't risk you guys getting hurt! Just get Ilia to safety!" Link said.

"Link…" Ilia muttered.

Unfortunately, it was too late for them to do anything, as a large group of marauders charged into town. Without even a second hesitation they were smashing and snatching anything they saw.

They were all easily identified by Link as Bulblin warriors, likely remnants of Zant and Ganondorf's dark legion. They were riding on the back of giant boars and wielding any kind of weaponry in the book. However, before they could even reach Link, Ilia and the kids, the bandits were blocked by Mayor Bo, along with a group of the braver and stronger villagers in the town.

Bo, with his arms folded and glaring angrily at the Black Jackal gang, shouted "As the mayor of this town, I demand the lot of you leave immediately! You're not welcome here!"

"Yes, we've had it with you having your way!" shouted Rusl, brandishing his sword.

"Don't think we're just going to be pushed around again!" shouted a female villager with a club.

"Kee-hee-heehee!" laughed one of the Bulbin, holding some knives between his fingers, "They really think they have a chance against us!"

"I say we crack the big cheese's head open, show em how to fear us!" said a bigger one, gripping a giant mallet with nails sticking out from it

"Now, now, boys." said a new voice. "We don't wanna go doing that."

Riding up on the bigger boars was a different-looking Bulbin, he was much taller and leaner then his comrades, he wore a pair of purple shades and had hair done in big red spikes. He wore shoulder pads lines with spikes and a black jacket. He grinned, showing off some pointy teeth with oddly enough, braces.

"I think we got off the wrong foot with you guys." The tall Bulbin said to Mayor Bo. "The name's 'Punk' Thrasher, I'm the leader of this gang, the Grimdark Skulls!"

"….didn't you guys call yourselves the Black Jackals last time?" Bo asked.

"Erm, well…" Thrasher muttered, "We're still working on the name! Now, we don't wanna hurt any of you guys or nothin', we just come for... let's just call it payment."

"Payment?!" Bo exclaimed.

"Well ya see, the reason other bandits aren't attacking this village is because we claimed it as our stake. And no one messes with the Blood Blades!" Thrasher explained.

"Wait, so you're the Blood Blades now?" Bo asked.

"So we're just here to collect our protection payment." Thrasher said. "Just let us do our business and no one has to get hurt!"

Bo stood still, not saying a word.

"Mayor Bo, comeon, let's fight!" shouted a villager.

"We shouldn't let them take a thing!" said another.

"… …NO!" Bo suddenly shouted, silencing the villagers. "Don't do anything…"

"But Mayor…!"

"Glad you see things our way." grinned Thrasher. "Alright boys, time to go to town!"

The bandits rode into the village, swiping and smashing whatever they pleased.

"Mayor, have you lost your marbles?!" Jagger shouted, "You're just going to let them do what they want?!"

"It's… fine… We can rebuild what's lost or damaged. As long as no one gets hurt, that's the most important thing…" Bo said, his eyes closed and his head down.

"Mayor…" Jagger muttered.

\---

Meanwhile, Link, Ilia and the kids decided to hide in a shed. They just watched through the shed's slightly open door as the bandits pillaged the town.

"Come on Link!" shouted Talo, "We need to fight back!"

"No…" Link said, "You heard Bo, and even if I wanted to, I don't have my weapons anymore…"

"What?!" shouted Talo "When did that happen?"

"During that trip I made, I was in a bad situation and lost most of them, and anything I was able to hold onto is in the trunk of my basement."

"Man, this sucks!" Talo said, folding his arms and pouting.

Link sighed as he laid back on something soft and cushiony. "I was able to help with the goats and the monkeys, but I don't know what we're supposed to do about this. Maybe we could set up some traps for next time or-"

"Um… L-Link…?" Ilia asked.

"Yeah?"

"Could… you move a bit?"

"Huh, why's that?"

"Y-You're laying against…"

Link looked curiously to see he was laying back against Ilia's stomach. He turned bright red and leapt back. "Ehhh… s-sorry Ilia!"

Ilia's face was flushed an equally bright red. Talo and Beth just laughed their heads off while Colin looked down sheepishly. However, the light-hearted moment was quickly forgotten as they heard the sound of a child shouting. The five of them all looked to each other and peered out from the shed.

What they saw was a bandit Bulbin gripping the arm of a little girl who was standing in front of a crop field.

"No!" shouted the little girl, "I won't let you hurt mommy's garden! She worked hard to grow it!"

"You little brat!" shouted the Bulbin "You think you can just get away with hitting me with that rock?! Things would have been fine if you let us be!"

"Ambi!" shouted the girl's mother from the porch.

The Bulbin unsheathed a somewhat rusty machete blade from his belt and raised it up. "This is what you get for messing with us!"

The little girl screamed as the Bulbin brought down the machete, but suddenly it was stopped by someone grabbing the Bulbin's arm.

"W-What?! Who're you?!" the bandit asked as he turned to his attacker.

"Ilia!" Link shouted as he ran up to the confrontation. Ilia was doing her best to hold back the Bulbin from hurting Ambi.

"Wow, how the heck she get over there so fast with that gut?!" Talo exclaimed, prompting Beth to whack him upside the head.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Ilia as she rose up her hand and smacked the Bulbin in the face with her palm, sending him falling over to the ground out-cold and dropping his machete.

"Ilia, are you okay?!" Link asked.

"I'm… fine… " she told Link, gasping for breath, "Are… you okay… sweetie?" Ilia asked Ambi.

"Y-yes, thank you Ms. Ilia!" Ambi said, bowing as her mother came running up to take her back to the house.

"Ilia…" Link said grinning, "You showed a lot of guts there."

Ilia turned red, looking downward. "T-Thanks Link…"

"Hey, what's going on here?" someone shouted. Link and Ilia turned to see a Bulbin with some knives between his teeth, inserted around his belt and boots, and between almost all his fingers. He looked down at his unconscious comrade and saw Link and Ilia standing over him. "Kee-hee-heehee! Whatdaya think yer doing? You wanna start trouble?!"

Link eyed the machete and took it, holding it ready to battle. "Ilia, get back to where the kids are. I'll handle this guy."

"O-Okay…" Ilia said, turned and waddling off back to the shed as fast as she could.

"Hey, don't run you bloated bitch!" shouted the knife-wielding Bulbin. He lunged at Ilia with his knives, but Link darted in front of him, blocking the knives with the machete he picked up.

"Your battle's with me, pal." Link said coldly.

The Bulbin snickered and hopped back, he then started juggling the knives effortlessly. "Kee-hee-heehee, I ain't your pal, I'm known as Stabby Douke, fastest knife user in Hyrule, I'll cut you to pieces, then I'll cut those pieces to pieces, then I'll cut tho-!"

"Sorry, but I just cut you while you were yapping." Link said.

"H-Huh?" Douke asked.

Douke noticed Link had his back to him, with the machete to his side. Douke stood there for a few seconds in confusion, before shouting in pain as a large cut formed along his body, he collapsed to the ground out cold.

"Well it's not a sword like I've used, but it'll have to do for now." Link said.

Soon enough however, a large group of the Bulbins showed up. Punk Thrasher was leading the pack.

"Oi, what the heck's going on here?!" Thrasher shouted. "We told you guys not to mess with us!"

"Sorry pal, but I had no choice." Link said.

"Unbelievable, he took down Douke with that old blade?!" exclaimed one of the Bulbin, looking down at his fallen comrade. "I say we tan his hide!"

"Hold it boys, I'll handle this." said Punk Thrasher, getting off his boar and staring down Link, sporting a grin that showed off his braces. "So kid, you think you can just attack my boys without expecting us to fight back?"

"I didn't want to have to fight, but when you guys start going low enough to be picking on kids, we have no choice." Link said.

"Grahahaha! So, guess you're asking for a bruising, you think you can take me and my gang on?" Punk Thrasher asked.

"Oh I think I can." Link said with a confident grin, "After all, I took down your lords."

"Heh, you don't think we don't know that Mr. Hero?" Thrasher asked.

"…so you do know me?" Link asked.

"Yeah, I recognize you from our wanted posters. We know you're the one that brought down Zant and Lord Dragmire… but who cares? Without that damned sword that you used to pull the job, you're just another stubborn villager!"

"The Master Sword…" Link muttered, recalling the sacred blade used to destroy evil.

"Well don't worry, I'm being generous, so we ain't gonna destroy this village. That would cut into our looting. Instead, we're gonna teach you not to mess with Team Toxic..." Thrasher said.

"Didn't you guys call yourselves the Blood Blades a second ago?" Link asked.

"Now I'd like to introduce you to a buddy of our's… HEY, GABBRON!" Thrasher suddenly shouted out.

Everything was quiet for a few seconds, then they heard a loud thudding sound, the ground was shaking more then before when the bandits arrived. Link then noticed a shadow on the ground, and looked up to see a large creature standing alongside the Bulbin bandits. He was easily nine feet tall, his body was made of hard brown skin, and wore a bronze helmet on his head and decorated skulls on his shoulders. He held an absurdly large piece of meat in his hand which he effortlessly bit into and tore off the skin from the bone.

"Mr. Hero, I'd like you to meet Bottomless Gabbron, the biggest, toughest bandit in Hyrule!" Thrasher said snickering, his braces giving off a gleam of light.

"Wait… that's a Goron." Link said, reminded of the rock-eating men from Death Mountain.

"Yeah, thanks to his endless gluttony, the Gorons banished him from the mountain and he teamed up with us." Thrasher said, "While most of his kind prefers rocks, this one loves food so much he'll even eat meat!"

"H-Hey boss!" shouted a Bulbin, "He's doing it again!"

Thrasher looked behind him to see Gabbron was chewing on a few Bulbin bandits, who were trying to scramble out of his mouth.

"HEY GABBRON, quit eating them guys!" Thrasher shouted.

"Eeeeh… sorry…" Gabbron said, spitting out the Bulbins. "They remind me of roast Octorok…"

"How do they look anything like Octoroks?!" Thrasher shouted. "A-Anyway, I got a new target for you to clobber!" he then said, pointing to Link.

"Ooooooh, fresh meat…" Gabbron said drooling.

'Oh man...' Link thought to himself.. He brandished the machete, ready to fight. 'Most of my good weapons are gone, and the things I have in my trunk aren't enough to take on a guy like this…'

Gabbron then bit into the last of the meat on the bone he was carrying and ripped it off, chewing it up. "I eat, now I crush!" he shouted, raising the bone into the air and swinging it down on Link. Link nimbly dodged to the side, barely avoiding it.

'Jees, this guy means business…' Link thought, looking at the huge indent in the ground he made.

By this point, the villagers had heard what was going on and went to see what became of Link, Ilia and the kids had showed up as well. But what they saw was Link trying his hardest to fight off Bottomless Gabbron.

"Link…" Ilia muttered.

"Don't worry about me…" Link said, forcing himself up. "If you guys get involved they'll go after you. Let me handle this." He charged forward as Gabbron swung his bone to the side, but Link quickly leapt onto the bone, bounded off it into the air, and then pointed his sword down towards Gabbron's face. He managed to hit him in the forehead… but nothing happened.

"W-What?" Link asked.

Gabbron fumed and swatted Link off of him, sending him crashing to the ground.

"Grahahaha, you idiot!" Thrasher said, slapping his leg in hilarity. "Gabbron has a hide tougher then steel! You couldn't hope to pierce it with a simple blade!"

"Damnit…" Link groaned as he tried to force himself up.

"Now take care of him!" Thrasher said. Gabbron obliged and lifted up the bone.

"No, Link!" Ilia shouted, trying to run to save him, but was stopped by Bo. The mayor just hung his head down with tears in his eyes.

Too much in pain to roll or dodge out of the way, Link tried to form a defensive stance with the machete, but it was effortless, and Gabbron brought the bone down and smashed Link with it.

"LINK!" the villagers all shouted.

Gabbron held the bone in place on top of Link. But then rose it up and continued hitting him with it, smashing him repeatedly. The villagers all kept their eyes shut, hearing the loud banging sound. Ilia in particular was clinging to her father's clothes, shaking in fear and worry. Soon Gabbron stopped and moved the bone away from Link. When the dust finally cleared, Link was laying in the ground, his body spread out, and his eyes rolled back.

Thrasher walked over to the fallen hero, looked him over carefully and smirked. "Well I gotta say, you did better then anyone else could had done." he said. "It's a miracle you're still breathing." He turned to the Bulbin bandits and said "Okay boys, we got what we came for and taught them a lesson, let's get!"

With that, Thrasher hopped onto the back of his boar, along with the other Bulbin and they rode off. Gabbron said nothing, but followed slowly after the gang.

Meanwhile, Ilia, Bo and the villagers all crowded around Link.

"Link…" Ilia muttered, her eyes full of tears, "H-He's not…"

"Don't worry" Rusl said, "That Bulbin leader was right, he's still alive, but he needs immediate care. Someone get all the red potion and medical supplies we got!"

A group of the villagers nodded and ran off as the others did what they could to help Link. The young man groaned a little, blinked his eyes a few times, and saw Ilia. She looked down at him worried, but he just gave her a small grin.

"H-Hey Ilia…" Link groaned, "Guess I bit off more then I could chew…"

"Link…” gasped Ilia, her body trembling, “You... I'm sorry... that..."

"S-Salright… I just need a bit of a nap…" Link chuckled weakly, before blanking out again.

\---


	4. Patching Things Up

\---

Link groaned, his eyes slowly opening up, as he tried to gather his bearing and remember just what happened before he passed out. He winced a bit, feeling someone dabbing at some wounds on his face. He at first thought it was Uli, but when his vision focused more, he saw who it actually was.

"I-Ilia…?" Link muttered, trying to get up.

"Shhh, save your strength Link." Ilia said, "You're still pretty beat up."

Link looked down at his body and saw he had bandages and bruises all over his body. Much to his embarrassment, he realized he was clad in his pants. Ilia seemed to be equally embarrassed, as she was trying her hardest to treat him without looking directly at him now that he was awake.

"So… what happened… with the Black Jac- the Grimda- the Blo-, that Bulbin gang?" he asked.

"They took off almost right after you were knocked out." Ilia said, She just sat by his bed for a few seconds, then said "The villagers are currently fixing the damages."

"Maybe I should go try and hel- YEOW!" Link said as he tried to get up, only to fall back down when a sharp pain shot up his body.

"I just told you not to get up!" Ilia said annoyed, she slowly rocked her body a bit before getting slowly up. "Anyway, I took care of your bandages, now that you're awake I'll get you something to eat, you must be starving."

"Yeah, been a while since I've had some of your cooking." Link said with a grin. Ilia soon returned with a bowl of cucco soup in one hand while carrying a large plate of roast cucco in the other.

"Wow, that smells good." Link said, "Have you been improving on your recipes lately?"

"A bit." Ilia admitted, "Though the meat isn't for you. You shouldn't be eating something like this in your condition." She took a spoonful of soup, blew on it to cool it down, before offering it to Link.

"Awww.." Link said with a pout before sipping the soup on the spoon. After a few spoonfuls, he smiled lightly and said "Soup tastes great anyway. You've become a great chef."

Ilia's face flushed a little, and then she turned to the roast cucco plate and ate one of the many pieces on it. This routine kept up until both Link's soup and Ilia's plate were both empty.

"Well thanks Ilia, that was good soup." Link said, "I almost wish I had gotten myself hurt like this a long time ago if I had known you'd be doing this for me." He joked.

"Heh… I-I better get going." Ilia said, patting her own stomach contently "I um, need to do some shopping before the caravans leave. You should try and get more rest." She rocked back and forth before hoisting herself up again, and then waddled out of the house in a hurry.

Link just sighed as he lay back in bed, thinking deeply to himself before nodding off.

\---

The days past and Link's body was quickly recovering. Ilia continued to treat his wounds, which much to her relief were healing fast thanks to the red potion treatment. Link made every effort possible to get in conversations with Ilia in an effort to lighten her mood. It was kind of a hit and miss effort, and she still seemed to be trying to distance herself from him.

One day, as Ilia was preparing dinner, Link asked "Hey Ilia, I can sit up now without being in pain, how about I upgrade to some solid food yet? I haven't eaten anything like that in a long time."

"… I suppose…" Ilia said a little annoyed, "Though I wish you'd slow down a bit. I don't want you going anywhere when you're like this."

"Ah, I'll be fine, I just need to-" Link's words were immediately cut off.

"I said I don't want you going anywhere!" she shouted in a sudden outburst.

It was an awkward silence as her words seemed to linger in the room for a while. She served Link a small plate of orange-marinated cucco she had prepared while she had made herself a much larger bowl of it with rice.

"This is really good stuff," Link said in an attempt to change the conversation, "I really missed your cooking."

"Well maybe if you didn't leave all that time ago that might not had happened." she said.

The silence returned again as they continued eating, Link sighed, feeling like he kept putting his foot in his mouth, and decided to just talk with her about it.

"Ilia…" Link said, "I... take it you're still angry about what I did, huh?"

"You think so?" she answered in annoyance, "We were all worried about you! Colin was always asking about you, for a while I thought you and Epona might have been dead... Why did you go and leave Link?" she asked him, with small tears forming in her eyes, "Where could you have gone that was so important?"

"It's, um... kind of hard to talk about." Link said, "It's a bit of a long story."

"Well," Ilia said before placing her empty bowl beside her and wiping her mouth clean, "I'm here right now, you can't leave at the moment, you may as well start."

"Good point." Link said. he paused for a moment to think of how to put it. "If something was important to you, would you do anything to get it back?"

"Y-Yes I would…" Ilia said.

"Back when you and the kids were abducted, while I was trying to find you guys, I met… well… a comrade who helped me." A slight pause. "Okay, well I was mostly being led around by her, but we ended up working together because our goals crossed paths."

"Her?!" Ilia exclaimed, then calmed down a bit. "…w-who was this person?"

"She was someone from a far away land, almost impossible to go to for a normal person." Link said, trying his best to remain as vague as possible. "After everything was said and done, she left back to her land, and made it completely impossible for the path there to ever be crossed."

"I see…" Ilia said, "So she… was the reason you left."

Link nodded.

"Did…" Ilia looked strained, like she was forcing herself to say each word, "Did… you… love her?"

"Well… to be honest, I don't know." Link said in deep thought. "I don't know if she was just a friend, a companion, a soul mate, or a possible lover… I think maybe that was part of the reason I left, to find a way to meet her again and answer that question, then whatever may come would happen…"

"But it didn't work out?" Ilia asked.

"No, I failed trying to find any way to restore the pathway, and I could never find another like it. When I realized that, I returned home. "

"…so you were just cast aside, abandoned... left behind..." Ilia said.

"Yeah, kind of ironic, huh? I guess that ended up being what I deserved." he said.

"No…" Ilia said, "You did what you thought was best. I can't… I can't fault you for following your heart like that."

"Well, I was still wrong for leaving you guys like I did." Link said, he then took her hands, causing her to jump a bit, "But I promise if you'll have me back, I still want to make up for leaving, including helping you all stop those bandits. I'm going to remain a part of this village's life again, Rusl, Uli, Colin, the kids, the animals, your dad… and you too. I promise I'll never hurt you like that again!"

"You sure you promise….?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah."

"…double pinky promise?"

"Double pinky promise." Link answered while grinning, holding up his hand's pinkies.

Ilia paused for a minute, and then she smiled beautifully before putting her plump pinkies over his.

"Welcome home Link."

Link hugged her best as he could, and she returned it with a small squeeze.

"OW! OW! OW! Bruises!" Link exclaimed before falling backwards onto the bed, twitching in pain.

"Whoops, sorry Link…" Ilia said embarrassed.

\---


	5. Training Arc

\--

Two weeks after the bandit raid, Link stood himself up from the bed, feeling much more full of vigor and strength, his wounds healed quickly thanks to his strong body and the healing effects of red potion. He grabbed a nearby shirt and pulled it on just as soon as Ilia came back from an errand.

"Oh Link, you look well!" she said smiling. She set her shopping basket on a table before plopping down on a stool, feeling a little tired from her trip.

"Yeah, once I'm certain I can do work again, I'm going to start training with Rusl and Colin." Link said, doing a stretch.

"Training for what?" Ilia asked.

"I need to get my strength back up to take on the bandits when they come back in two and half months." He said. "I'm going to see to it that they never touch this village again."

"B-But what about that Goron?" Ilia asked nervously "How do you plan to deal with him?"

"It'll be fine." Link said, "This time I'll be prepared for what they got!"

"Well I don't like the idea of you fighting that guy again…" Ilia said, "…I wish there was something I can do for you."

"Ah, it'll be fine." Link said. He gave Ilia a hug, causing her face to redden, before heading out the door. "It's time to toughen u-"

Within a split second, two little objects shoot through the air and knocked Link down to the ground.

"Link you're back!" Talo said, sitting on top of Link's back.

"We missed you a lot, Ilia wouldn't let us visit you!" said Beth, straddling his legs so he couldn't get up.

"Amazing, after all that you're okay now!" Colin said with sparkling eyes, "You're really tough!"

"….he says to the guy who was just knocked onto his face by two kids…" Malo muttered.

"H-Hey guys, glad to see you." Link said, muffled as Talo pushed his head into the ground.

"So what are you going to do now Link?" Beth asked as the kids let go of him, allowing him to stand up straight.

"Well it's time I help out around here again. Plus, I need to get to training for when those bandits come again." Link said, pounding his fist into his palm.

"Alright, time to kick monster butt!" Talo said, swinging his wooden sword in the air.

"Colin, can I count on you to help?" Link asked. Colin's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly.

"Oooh," Beth said, putting her hands to her cheeks and swooning. "I can't wait to see him get all worked up and sweaty."

"…you worry me sometimes." Malo told her.

\---

"Training, huh…?" Ilia asked herself. Having recovered from her exhaustion, she gave a heavy sigh as she rocked back and forth before sitting up. She patted her stomach a bit, and then waddled over to her bathroom to look in the mirror. For the longest time she hated looking in the mirror, as instead of the slim, beautiful girl she once was, she now only saw a large, fat blob of a woman.

She eyed the bathroom scale nearby, and looked hesitant. Tempting fate, she slowly stepped over onto it. The weights for the scale immediately shifted, and she started moving them left and right to balance them out until the arrows met in the center. She looked nervously as she added up the total in her head. She broke out into a cold sweat upon figuring out the answer.

"Three… Three hundred and twenty five…" she muttered. In disbelief, she stepped away from the scale and plopped down onto a nearby chair, before her weight caused the legs to break under her.

"By the goddesses, how did I get this way…?" she asked, gripping a part of her stomach.

She forced herself up and waddled over to the living room where her bed was now after she had thrown it at Link, unable to get it back up onto the second floor where her bedroom originally was. It didn't matter anyway, as she accidentally ripped the rope ladder as well. She laid back on the bed, which was thankfully reinforced to keep her from breaking it, and she eyed a small plate of sweet rolls that she usually kept by her bed.

"Of course…" Ilia said, "What else could it be?" She then took a picture frame that was beside the rolls and looked at it. It was a photograph of herself and Link, from back before she had been kidnapped over a year ago. For the longest time the photo had been in the bottom drawer flat so she'd never have to look at it, but shortly after she and Link made up, she had taken it out to display by her bed.

In the picture, she was slim and pretty, smiling sweetly, as Link was giving her a hug all the way around her arms and body. Ilia just stared at it, looking like she was about to cry, remembering when Link tried hugging her back after they rekindled their friendship. He couldn't even get his arms around her anymore.

"Hmph… this is all Link's fault…" she said, "If he hadn't left, I wouldn't had gotten so upset and… and…"

Ilia looked to the plate of sweet rolls.

"No... No, it's not his fault. I'm the one that choose to give up." She admitted. "I was so miserable I stopped caring about the way I looked, and just ate and ate to fill the void..."

She looked at the picture again, particularly Link's happy face. She closed her eyes, and put her arms back, staring at the ceiling.

"I can't lose him…" she muttered, "Not again…"

Her eyes narrowed as she remembered what Link said earlier about training.

"That's it! I need to do something about this!" She forced herself up and took a deep breath. "I need to train too, and lose this weight!"

She rummaged through her clothes, picking out some unusual clothing she had bought from a traveling foreign merchant, consisting of a pair of black pants with an elastic waistband and a sleeveless shirt the merchant had called a tank top. It was made of a stretchy material the merchant said was good for exercise, and could fit almost anyone.

Putting on the clothes was a task, she had to pull the shirt so it would go completely over her belly, and getting the pants up over her rear was just as troublesome. She stood in the bathroom, staring into the mirror, and then looked to the scale. Ilia remembered back before Link left she used to weigh one hundred and two pounds, and vowed to herself to go back to that.

"I want Link to be able to treat me like he did all that time ago." Ilia said, "I want him to hug me like he did, and…" she took a deep breath "I want to be the woman he can appreciate and…maybe… " she found herself blushing, "…maybe fill the void in his heart from his friend going away… Yeah, I can do this!" she pumped her fists and with that went to start her workout.

\---

"Okay, push ups!" Ilia said. She got onto the ground straight and put her hands on the ground. She attempted to push herself up, but didn't get very high. She looked down to see her gut was hoisting her high enough that she couldn't get much of a push up done.

"Ugh…" she muttered. "Okay, sit ups!"

Rolling onto her back, she put her hands behind head, bent her legs upwards, and then tried to sit up from her position, but her stomach and thick legs got in the way of her making much progress.

"Not again…" she forced herself up and contemplated. "Okay, jumping jacks!"

She stood straight and stretched her arms out. She was about to start her first jump, but then paused, and looked down at herself. She held her stomach and shook it a little, watching it shake around. She scowled in annoyance and walked off, muttering "That would have been disastrous…"

\---

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Link was clashing his sword against his mentor Rusl. Link quickly stepped backwards and then darted forward to swing out his blade, but Rusl countered it and struck Link with his boot in that split moment. Link went falling to the ground. The young man covered his eyes with his hand, feeling annoyed with himself.

"You left yourself too open for attack Link." Rusl said, "You need to avoid rushing in too fast,"

"Ugh, sorry Rusl," Link groaned, "I've been out of commission for so long I need to get myself stronger so that I can take on those bandits."

"Yes, but don't focus too much on just getting stronger, don't forget that a good technique can make up for a lack of power." Rusl commented. It was then that his wife came up with some water for the two of them.

"Oh you're too hard on him Rusl." Uli said, "He just wants to make up for lost time. Would you like some water Link?"

"No, I think I can handle it now," Link said, standing himself up, "Just watch me work!" He ran forward again, looking like he was going to try an all-out attack on Rusl. The older man did a counter stance, but instead Link leaped into the air and over his mentor, before swinging out his sword at him. Rusl quickly turned around tried to block, but his sword was deflected, giving Link a chance to point his sword inches from Rusl's face.

"Nice one." Rusl said grinning, but then swung his own sword down on Link's before swinging it horizontally at his pupil. The slash was just close enough that it cut open Link's tunic, showing off his now bare chest.

"Oooh, nice one." Uli said grinning, checking out Link's physique. Link embarrassingly covered himself with the tunic as Rusl laughed.

\---

"Ugh… nothing… worked… " Ilia said, panting from exhaustion. "I'm… tired… just from attempting them… alone… What am I going to do…?" Ilia asked herself. She slowly waddled to her house's reading area to take a break. She fished through the books, trying to find something interesting. One book stuck out, but it was so tight inside the shelf that she had trouble pulling it out. She yanked on it a few times, unknowingly causing a small stack of clipped together papers on top of the bookshelf to shake, before they fell down and hit her on the head.

"Huh? What's this?" Ilia asked, looking down at the papers. She picked them up and started reading through them.

"Exercise techniques for the perfect body." She read. "This handwriting looks familiar…"

It then hit her, "Wait… Mother…?"

It was the same handwriting in the letters Ilia's mother used to write before she had passed away from a fatal illness back when she was still a child. She had kept the letters all that time as a reminder of her mother, and these notes had apparently been among them.

"I remember Mom was always so slim," she said, reminiscing "Maybe this was what helped her stay that way. This is perfect for what I need!"

Mentally thanking her mother, the overweight village girl headed outside to try out the techniques her mother had written.

"Carry a boulder fifty paces…?" Ilia read from the papers as she stood in the middle of a small area away from the town where there were numerous rocks and trees. "How is this supposed to help lose weight?" She shrugged and squatted down, lifted up a decent sized rock and started carrying it, trying as she could to count off how much she was walking. She dropped the rock to the ground, feeling winded from it.

"Whew… this is kinda rough. But if Mom did this to keep her figure, maybe it'll work." Ilia thought as she continued down the list.

\---

That night, Ilia returned home exhausted. Seeing her father wasn’t home, she removed her clothes and threw them into the laundry. After having a small bath and changing into one of her tent dresses, she was starting to get hungry. She was planning to prepare some vegetables for dinner, but the idea wasn’t particularly appealing to her. 

Instead, she thought she’d try a part of the exercise papers that sounded interesting. Ilia slowly went down stairs to the basement underneath the house, and started rummaging through everything, trying to track down where her mom might had put something. She eventually came across a chest full of jars; all them labeled something called ‘chanko’.

“Hmm..” Ilia said, consulting the notes. “I have to have some of this on my food, especially rice, and then go to bed right afterwards… must be a type of dietary supplement.” She concluded, taking a jar of it and going upstairs to prepare dinner.

\---

One day, Link was taking a break from his training, drinking some green potion to help restore his stamina. He watched as Colin was smacking around a wooden training dummy, impressed by his young ward's techniques.

"Looks like you returning really got him motivated." Said a new voice. Link looked to see Mayor Bo sitting down beside him, "Heck, seems everyone's resolved to get stronger. Even Ilia has been going out more and more these days."

"Yeah, seems like it happened right after the thing with the Bulbin bandits." Link said.

"Hm, yes…" Bo said frowning, "Link, I want to apologize again for what happened that day. I was so worried about protecting the safety of the people; I thought it could be fixed over time. But, not only did they steal more then they ever had this time, the trades route have been having more trouble getting through here, and on top of it all, you got hurt worse then anyone." the large man hung his head down, "I'm ashamed to call myself the mayor of this village."

"Hey Bo?" Link asked.

"Yeah?"

"Shut up." Link replied.

"What?! What'd you just say?" Bo said angrily. He was about to clobber him for that, but Link continued.

"You did everything you thought was right. You couldn't account for everything that would happen. As the one the goddesses choose to save Hyrule from Dragmire and Zant, I know what it's like to worry about the well-being of the land. Even the princess told me about a sacrifice she had to make in order to protect her people."

"The princess…." Bo muttered, looking at Link in surprise.

"But I don't think that's much a factor anymore." Link said. "The people here are getting strong, and it looks more and more like they want to take matters into their own hands." He grinned at Bo, "Whether you like it or not, Ordon Village isn't going to take this laying down anymore."

"Haha, guess you're right." Bo said, putting a hand on Link's head and rubbing his hair, messing it up. "You're sounding more and more responsible by the minute."

"Thanks."

"So you wanna be mayor next?"

"I'll pass." Link said.

\---

Back with Ilia, her routine continued for a while. Ilia spent her days carrying and pushing boulders around and eating chanko with her usual meals. One day Ilia went into the next part of the notes, and saw she was to now tie larger rocks around her waist and pull it as far as she could.

"This is getting weird…" Ilia said, "But it does seem to be working, I've haven't been getting tired as much lately, and my body does feel stronger..."

She thought to herself about appearing to Link wearing her old dresses, and Link complementing her, and hugging her around her trim figure.

"Alright, I'll keep at it!" Ilia said, tying a rope around a large rock and the other end around her waist, then started pulling on it with all her strength. It was a difficult process at first, but as the days went by it got easier and easier, she then followed the notes and started trying larger rocks then before for each exercise.

One day she was moving onto a new next step, tying small rocks to ropes, pulling the ropes over tree branches, and pulling on the ropes to lift the rocks up. While this would be daunting for some, at this point Ilia was doing well to adapt to it. She alternated between lifting two rocks, one at a time.

"Hey Ilia, what're you doing over here?"

Upon hearing a familiar voice, Ilia immediately dropped the rock she had been pulling up and turned bright red, folding her arms behind her back to try and hide what she was doing.

"Oh, uh, Link!" Ilia said, showing an embarrassed smile, "I was just…. Um…" she looked around frantically trying to find cover up what she was doing, "Uh, you know, cleaning the rocks!" she then got on her knees and started scrubbing a rock with some of the rope she had.

"I see…" Link said oddly, "Do you need a brush or something?"

"No! No!" Ilia said nervously, "Rope works just fine!"

"Huh." Link said. "Okay, so how about I give you a hand?" Without waiting for a response, Link took a strand of rope and started scrubbing it on a rock beside Ilia.

"O-Okay…" Ilia said nervously. The two of them pointlessly scrubbed rocks for a while until Link finally decided to speak up.

"So I spoke with your father, he said the bandits will be coming in another month from now. We're doing everything we can to prepare for them. I can tell you this, they're not going to make fools of us again."

"That's great..." Ilia said.

"S-So I was thinking, the village pub just finished it's repairs," Link said with a bit of nervousness in his voice, "Did you um… wanna go grab some dinner over there?"

Upon hearing that, Ilia faulted so much she just about smashed onto the rock she was 'cleaning'.

"Ack, Ilia, you alright?" Link asked.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine…" Ilia said, getting back up. "Um… as much as I'd love to, I have… um… other plans." She had to admit she was a little sad to turn down his offer, but she had to concentrate on her diet plan, and as much as she wanted to go out with Link, she wanted to do it when she lost the weight.

"Oh, alright." Link said. "I guess I better focus on my training then." He stood up, "Well, good luck on your rock cleaning."

"Thanks…" Ilia said, she watched Link walk off, and once he was out of view, she grabbed the ropes wrapped around the tree branch and went back to work pulling the rocks up for her exercise.

"I'm sorry Link…" Ilia said softly.

\---

One month later, Ilia stood in the bathroom, she was staring at her great nemesis in the land, the one who constantly taunted her and treated her like worthless garbage.

The scale.

But now she had a better resolve. She was stronger, faster and felt healthier then ever before. Even her arms and legs felt especially firmer.

"I've been following my mother's exercise notes to the letter." She said, "I won't lose to this thing!"

She recalled she was three hundred and twenty five two and a half months ago, and with her newfound resolve, stepped onto the scale. She adjusted the weights to her previous weight. She did notice with delight that the scale wasn't staying balanced at the weight she used to be at, so she knew her routine had been working. She tried moving it to lower numbers… but something was wrong.

Nervously, she continued adjusting the weights on the scale to get them to balance out; eventually it reached the dead center, indicating it was balanced. She stood in disbelief at the scale numbers. A cold sweat ran down her head as the numbers just stayed in place, showing her new personal weight.

Four hundred and thirty two. 

\---


	6. Heart to Heart

\---

Ilia slowly walked through the village with a blank stare, as if she was in some sort of trance. The villagers saw how miserable she was but could tell she didn't desire to be comforted by anyone at that moment, so they left her be.

"Four hundred and thirty-two…" she continued to mutter to herself, "Four thirty-two… I was three twenty-five… I gained so much weight despite how much effort I put in… how good I felt…"

She stopped and sat down on a bench, not from exhaustion, as she was walking much easier these days then she did three months ago, but rather from depression. She looked down at her body and saw how well the elastic shirt did at fitting her, stretching out over her stomach, which made it harder for her to realize she had been gaining weight instead of losing it this whole time. She pulled the shirt a little to see how far it could stretch out, only for it to snap back, causing it to ride up her stomach and end up just underneath her breasts, exposing her round belly to the world.

"Oh goddesses, how did this happen… I'm so huge... and Link will never…" she caught herself before she finished that. She got up and hurried home; doing everything she could to hide herself from the villagers.

\---

"Ilia?" Link asked as he walked into her house, "I heard you were home so I thought I'd drop by. Did you want to go for a walk or-" he paused as he saw Ilia in the living room, laying on her bed and eating sweet rolls with the same blank stare on her face.

"Oh… hello Link… how nice to four thirty-two… I mean, see you" she muttered.

"What did you just say?" Link asked, raising an eyebrow,

"I said why don't you sit down and I'll make you some I'm such a fat pig… I mean, a cup of tea." she said.

"…want to talk about it?" Link asked, sitting down on the side of her bed.

"Well… if you couldn't tell from looking at me…" Ilia said, taking a pillow and covering her face with it, "Mmph'm mmphat"

"What?"

"Mmphie mmpham mmpha mmphig mmphat mmphiggie"

"Ilia, I don't speak pillow." Link said.

"I'm fat." Ilia said out loud, finally removing the pillow. "I got really really fat. And when I tried to lose weight, I somehow got even fatter."

"Wait, was that what that whole thing with the rope and the rocks was about?" Link asked.

"Yeah…" sniffed Ilia, "I know you can be naive at times, but how can you not notice this whole time what I became?"

"What, you think I didn't notice it?" Link then asked in a deadpan voice.

"You mean you knew?" Ilia asked startled.

"Yeah of course I knew, dummy. I knew when I first came back." Link said poking her on the forehead.

"Then… why didn't you point it out?! Aren't I disgusting? Aren't I ugly? I don't look anything like I used to…"

"Ilia, I didn't point it out because I don't care about anything like that." Link said, "You're not disgusting or ugly or anything. You're my best friend; and you know I'd never think so little of you like that."

Ilia was a little stunned at this. She looked down at her body, then to Link. "But… I'm even bigger now then before… I tried to exercise and it somehow backfired."

"Yeah, I know." Link said, "But if anything, I've been more worried about your mood…" Ilia just looked surprised as he grinned a little, reminiscing to himself, "Remember back when we were kids, and how much you loved sweets? It always put a big smile on your face, especially when we'd come home from playing and your mom had made sweet rolls for the two of us!"

"Y-Yeah…" Ilia said, blushing lightly, "I've tried to make them myself, but I could never replicate like how mom made them."

"The Ilia I love the most is when she's happy and smiling." Link said, "The only time you're not yourself is when you're fussing over your figure or being angry and depressed all the time." Link then realized how he had phrased it and turned red, "Uh, erm, well you know what I mean, right? Love as in like you a lot, I mean…"

"Y-Yeah!" Ilia said, turning just as red, "I get it, I get it!"

Before the two of them could feel any more awkward, the moment was broken by a loud familiar horn. Soon they could hear the villagers shouting and running around Ordon. Eventually Jagger stuck his head into Ilia's house wielding an lumber ax.

"Link, Ilia, you two lovebirds better quit fussing over each other and get outside quick, the bandits are on their way!" he said before taking off.

"Ilia, I'm heading out. Wait here." Link said, standing up from the bed and running up to the door.

"Link-" Ilia started, but Link interrupted her.

"Listen, when this is all over," Link said with his back to her, "I want to continue our conversation… I… have some things I want to tell you…" he was looking a bit distantly, and then turned to her with a stern expression, "So please; just wait here until I'm ready!"

Ilia was about to agree to his request, but she paused. She looked down at herself, then out the window to see the villagers preparing for the raid, and then to Link. She then gripped her hands, hopped off the bed, and followed after Link.

"Wait Link, I'm coming with you!"

\---


	7. This Time, It's War

\---

Link and Ilia ran out of the house at the beckon of a loud horn. Everyone in the village knew what it signaled, the return of Punk Thrasher and his Bulbin team. Almost the entire village was standing at the entrance to the town, save for a few of the women, children and the older folks. Most of the people standing there were armed with weapons. Even some of the more intelligent animals were standing along side them, including Epona. Mayor Bo himself stood at the front of the line with arms folded.

"Ilia," Link said, "I need to run to my house and get my equipment. You go back inside and wait,"

"Link, I told you I'm helping to fight too." Ilia said, "I'm not running away."

"But Ilia, I don't want you getting hurt." Link said.

"Don't worry…" Ilia said, she gripped her arm and stared at it, "For some reason I feel more ready to fight then I ever have… and I want to do this, not just to protect myself, but the village too!"

Link wanted to protest, but he could see something in her eyes, a newfound resolve of determination, like she was ready for anything. This was very unlike what she was before, but it was something he could admire.

"Okay, just stay safe until I get back." Link said, running off to his house.

\---

The villagers could hear some rumbling, and soon the bandits arrived, riding in on their boars with a dust cloud around them. They too were well-armed with weapons, perhaps better then before. At the forefront were the knife-wielding Stabby Douke and the leader Punk Thrasher.

When they all came to a stop as the dust cloud they formed was dissipating, Thrasher just sat on his boar, looking out at the crowd of people in front of him, blocking the way to the houses and markets. He grinned mischievously, showing off his braces which gleamed from the sunlight beaming down.

"Grahahaha! Take a look boys, seems the villagers ain't too pleased with us." Thrasher said.

"Kee-hee-heehee," Stabby Douke said, he was juggling a knife into the air, and stroking large bandage wrappings on his chest with his other hand, "Can't believe it's already been three months, can I start cutting them up boss?"

"Not yet Douke, you gotta mind yer wound there." Thrasher pointed out, "Doctor's orders ya know."

"Fine…" muttered Douke, catching the knife between his teeth and lying against his boar's back.

Thrasher hopped off his boar and strolled casually up to Mayor Bo, stopping and looking down at him. He adjusted his sunglasses and grinned.

"Good day Mr. Mayor, how was the food harvesting this season? The boys have been craving some good stuff to prepare for the fall." Thrasher said.

"There won't be anymore of that here for you." Bo said frowning, "We're not allowing you to lay one hand on our town!"

"That's right!" Jagger shouted, "It's time we fight back against you ogres!"

"If you don't want a fight, then you best turn back, or you'll feel the sting of the blade that Link was taught by!" Rusl said, brandishing his sword.

"We've had it with you, and you're not getting your way this time!!” shouted a villager.

"Yeah, get out of here!" shouted another one.

"Uh… y-you aren't touching the wife's sweet rolls!" shouted a certain unseen baked goods salesman in the back.

Thrasher just stood there for a minute. He had a straight look on his face, but didn't say a word. He then suddenly threw his head back and started laughing hysterically, clapping his hands as well.

"Graha-graha-grahahahahahaaaaa! That's rich! That's real real rich!" Thrasher said, "You guys seriously think you stand a chance against us, the Omega Destroyers?!"

"Is that our new gang name?" one Bulbin asked his teammate, the other shrugged.

"Sides, ain't you afraid of the well-being of yer people, Mr. Mayor?" Thrasher asked. "Don't you not want them gettin'' hurt?"

"You're right, I don't…" Mayor Bo said, confusing Thrasher, "As the mayor of this village, I am afraid for their safety. I am indeed afraid of them getting hurt. However, it took this time to realize all I was doing by holding them back was putting them through more suffering. They've made their choice. They're going to fight to the end, and as mayor, I need to listen to my village and respect their choices. We're not going to hold back!"

The villagers cheered and raised their weapons in response. Thrasher just paused and stared at Bo and the crowd.

"Geeheh heh!" laughed one of the Bulbin standing alongside Thrasher, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! What kinda mayor sends his town to die like weak little-"

Thrasher then smashed the Bulbin into the ground face first with a kneedrop kick.

"Hey, shad up if you know what's good fer ya." Thrasher said, he turned to Bo and grinned, showing off his braces, "A good mayor listens to his people and respects their views, and I can respect this guy's attitude." Thrasher stroked his chin in curiosity, "Somehow I have a feeling its Mr. Hero who brought about this change of heart, am I right?"

"You could say that..." Bo said.

"Graahaha… not bad," Thrasher chuckled, looking left and right. "So where's he held up around here anyway? He still recovering?"

"Link's condition isn't your concern," Bo said, forming a battle stance. "Your battle is with us."

"Grahaha, if you insist." Thrasher said, "Okay boys, let's teach em a lesson!"

The Bulbin all shouted war cries as they charged into battle.

"Everyone," Bo said, "Defend our home!"

The villagers all shouted out and followed after Bo into battle. The two sides fought without hesitation or fear. A man smacked a Bulbin to the ground, but one came up behind him with a machete, only to be taken down by another villager. Jagger swung his ax wildly, slashing through a group of bandits, while a pack of goats charged in and rammed a gang of the Bulbin, sending them flying.

\---

"Come on!" said Talo, sneaking out of a window of the house where he and the other kids were placed for safety before the fight, "We're missing out on all the fun!"

"Hey, wait up Talo, Malo here is heavy!" Beth said, struggling to lift up Malo over the window for Talo to catch.

"….I don't remember wanting to go as well..." Malo muttered as he was lowered down.

"H-Hey guys!" Colin said frantically, climbing out as well, "You guys shouldn't be trying to get involved, remember what happened with Link when he was trying to protect Ambi and Ms. Ilia?!"

"No way, everyone's giving it their all!" Talo said, "We gotta play our part too if we're able!"

"Well…" Colin looked down to the ground, and then took a deep breath, unsheathing his wooden sword. "…a-alright, let's go!"

"Woah, check out Mr. Hero-in-training!" Beth said to Colin grinning, "Link would be proud of you!"

"….fine, I guess if you guys are all going through with this, I suppose I'll join in…" Malo muttered, slowly walking off ahead of them.

\---

Link meanwhile was rummaging through his basement, retrieving his Hylian shield. In addition, he pulled a strange object out from his storage trunk that he had been holding onto.

"I'm glad I still held into this." Link said, "Now it's time for that rematch."

\---

Back outside in the village, a group of villagers were being pursued by some of the bigger Bulbin, who were trying to crush them under some hammers and clubs they were wielding. However, before they could hurt the people, they heard a strange sound and saw something coming out from some bushes. They all stopped and look down at what looked like a Bombling pulled a jar of black liquid.

"What's this about?" asked one of Bulbin.

"Dunno… why is it ticking?" asked another.

Their questions were answered when the Bombling exploded, covering them in sticky molasses. The Bulbin stood there blankly, looking down at what had just happened.

"The heck is this stuff?" asked one.

"Whatever it is, it's kinda tasty!" said the other, eagerly licking at his fingers.

"Okay, deploy the hive!" said Talo as he and Beth chucked a beehive from the bush down to the ground in front of the Bulbin. A swarm of bees flew up into the air, angry at their hive being destroyed, but when they saw the molasses-covered Bulbin, they all swarmed down at them.

"BEES!" shouted the Bulbin as they all ran away, being pursued by the swarm.

"Ha, 'Monkey See Monkey Gone' succeeded again!" Talo said proudly.

"Though Malo's right," Beth said, "I think Link does need a better name for that plan."

"Hey you brats!" shouted a Bulbin in the distance, "You think you can do that to our gang?!" as he and a small group of bandits ran at the kids.

"Uh oh, let's run!" shouted Talo and as he Beth escaped. Before the Bulbin bandits could even get close though, Rusl stepped out in front of the kids to defend them.

"Heh, been a while since I've been able to cut loose." Rusl said, "Just like old times."

"Outta the way old man!" shouted the Bulbin as they all charged right at him. Rusl simply gripped his sword from its sheath just before they all swung down their weapons. They then realized Rusl was nowhere to be seen.

"Behind you boys." Rusl said, standing with his back to them.

"Uh… w-when did he get behind us?" asked one of the bandits. Rusl didn't answer, but simply took his sword and slowly put it back in its sheath. When it went all the way in and clicked shut, all the bandits shouted out in pain as cuts formed across their bodies, leaving them sprawling to the ground out cold.

"Sure hope Link gets here soon." Rusl said grinning, "He's going to miss out on the fun!"

\---

Meanwhile, another team of Bulbin bandits came running at the safe house where the weaker villagers were hiding at.

"That's the place!" said one bandit. "They won't be so eager to fight if their family is in danger!"

As they ran up to the door, it opened, and there stood Uli, blocking the way in.

"Heehaha, if you all know what's good fer ya, you better surrender!" said the Bulbin at the front of the pack.

Uli didn't say a word, but just stood there smiling.

"Um… w-we're here to capture you… and…" the bandit was having a hard time speaking; looking at Uli's smiling expression.

"Oh dear," Uli said, "Are you all sure you wish to do something as rude as attack us…?"

"Um…"

"Because if you do…" Uli said, closing her eyes.

Strangely, despite sporting the same lovely smile and light voice, the bandits could swear they felt a dark and menacing aura coming from her, like a fierce demonic force was being formed from the mother's protective drive,

"You'll soon feel the wrath…"

She opened her eyes gently.

"…of a mother's scorn."

The Bulbin all cowered in horror and ran away out of the village screaming.

"Oh my," Uli sighed, putting a hand to her cheek, "I do need to have a word with Rusl about our protection, I wish I wouldn't have to resort to that kind of thing…"

\---

In another area, a group of Bulbin came charging around, smashing and bashing whatever they saw, up until they saw a child standing in the middle of the road. They all stopped and stared down at him.

"Whadaya want shrimp?"" asked one of the Bulbin, "We're wrecking stuff here, so get outta the way!"

"…by saying that… is it an admission to your vandalism I assume?" Malo asked, staring up at them.

"…u-uh… yeah?" asked the Bulbin.

Malo simply pulled out an atticus counting device and started moving the beads around on it, "Let's see… three damaged fruit stands, eight broken windows, twenty seven pieces of furniture…"

The Bulbin all looked to each other confusingly.

"... add in 8.25% tax rate and interest… Your bill comes out to exactly 102,541 rupees." Malo said, writing out the amount on a paper and handing it to the front Bulbin.

"Hey, quit makin' jokes! We're gonna crush your face i-"

"Um… t-this is a legal binding bill.." said the front Bulbin nervously, his whole body shaking as he saw the famous Malo Mart seal on the bottom of the bill. The Bulbin all looked down at the small boy, before screaming and running away. Malo just stood there, and then slowly walked off.

"…better go see how the others are doing…" he said.

\---

In another area, a rampaging giant warthog wearing a silver nose ring owned by the Bulbin bandits was charging through the area, smacking and stomping at the villagers and town. It had a few people cornered, and was getting ready to gore them, until a loud neigh could he heard.

The warthog turned to see Epona was standing there; she snorted out and dragged her hoof on the ground, kicking up some dirt. The warthog narrowed it's eyes as it charged at Epona.

The horse quickly sidestepped away from the rampaging creature, who turned and charged again. Epona then hopped a bit before bounding up right over the warthog, who paused and looked up into the sky.

Epona brought her front hooves downwards and smashed them down onto the warthog's head, dazing it, before she jumped down, brought up her back legs and kicked the warthog in the face, shattering its nose ring and leaving it crashing to the ground out cold. Epona neighed out proudly at her victory.

"Never thought I'd see a horse make its own war cry." said one of the grateful villagers.

\---

Bo meanwhile was using his sumo battle style to smash and deck a gang of the stronger bandits, then stomping the ground with his foot to blast away a pack of them with a shockwave. He grabbed one by its belt and hurled it backwards, sending it impacting into a group of its comrades.

"Whew… this is getting tiresome." Bo said. A group of bandits took that opportunity to circle him. He was about ready to fight them back, but then someone jumped down from nowhere and landed down by Bo. It was Link, brandishing his sword and Hylian shield.

"Bo, get down!" said Link, prompting Bo to dive down onto his stomach, as Link swung out his sword into a spin attack, slashing the Bulbin goons away.

"Ha, about time you showed up Link!" Bo said with a smile, standing back-to-back with Link. "Ready to fight?"

"Been waiting three months for this." Link said grinning, as the two charged into battle against more bandits.

Link swung his sword around, slashing away bandits that tried to even get close to him. He decked one in the face with his shield before quickly sprinting across the ground, swiping his sword across the ground, making a triangle shape. Before the bandits could realize it, a small beam of light shot from the shape and sent the Bulbins flying. One of the stealthier ones tried to get the drop on Link from behind, but it was quickly knocked out cold by Ilia smacking it across the back of the head with a club.

"Hey, nice one Ilia." Link said grinning.

"Thanks…" Ilia said with a light blush, before they went to fighting more bandits.

\---

"B-Boss," said a bandit, crawling up to Punk Thrasher, who was kicking back on top of his boar while observing the battle, "These villagers are stronger then we thought, and now that guy who beat Lord Dragmire is here!"

"Well well," grinned Thrasher, "Mr. Hero's up and at em? He keeps surprising me by the second. Guess it's time to send in the big guns. Hey Douke, get ready to order th-" He looked to the spot where Douke normally was, only to see he was gone. "Oh for the love of-"

\---

Meanwhile, some kids who had snuck out after Talo and Beth were being chased by the knife-wielding Bulbin known as Stabby Douke. He was swinging his knives around at the kids, barely missing with each swipe.

"Kee-hee-heehee!" Douke said, "I'm gonna cut ya! Gonna cut ya!"

"Leave them alone!" shouted a voice. Douke stopped in his tracks and turned to see Colin, holding his wooden sword and glaring at the Bulbin.

"Huh? Another brat?" Douke asked, "Now what do you want?"

"I-I said leave them alone!" Colin said, his whole body was shaking from he sight of Thrasher's second in command.

"Kee-hee-heehee, you're quite the brave one." Doku said, juggling his knives, "Brave but stupid!"

Douke then charged at Colin, who stood his guard and brought up his sword and blocked both knives before they could slash him.

"Huh, little tougher then you look!" Douke said, hopping backwards before coming at Colin again. Colin quickly brought up his sword and blocked each slash of the knives. Douke was going at him with everything, but quickly started slowing down. He jumped back and felt at the bandaged wound on his chest.

"Kee-hee-ow…" Douke muttered, rubbing at his wound, "This damned cut…" he said, "It's been three months and it still hurts… once I'm done with you kid, I'll make that 'hero' guy and his fat-ass girlfriend pay!"

"You won't hurt Mr. Link or Ms. Ilia, I'll make sure of that!" Colin said, he ran straight at Douke, who in turn lunged at him with his knives. The two of them swung out their blades and ended up facing away from each other.

Colin and Douke didn't move for a while, until Colin flinched from some small cuts that formed on his cheek and side.

"Kee-hee-heehee," Douke chuckled, looking back at the child, before he realized his bandage was coming undone. He screamed out in pain from having a second cut forming on his chest, reopening the cut Link gave him three months ago as well and forming an X shape. Douke's head grew dizzy from the sheer pain before he collapsed to the ground out cold.

"I-I did it!" Colin said to himself with a sigh of relief as the kids crowded around him, thanking him for his heroism, as some of the villagers came to assist them.

\---

With almost all the bandits been taken down, Link and Ilia came running up the entrance of the village where Thrasher was, now leaning against his boar.

"Alright Thrasher, " Link said, "We just took down your gang. Ready to surrender now?"

"Grahahaha! Surrender? Not likely. I am glad to see you recovered so quickly Mr. Hero, it's no wonder you managed to beat Dragmire." Thrasher said. "But I think it's time to remind you why no one messes with the Darkedge Riders!"

\---


	8. Technique and Power

\---

Punk Thrasher snapped his fingers, causing the ground to suddenly start shaking. Link and the town already knew what was to come. Link turned to the villagers and told them to get into hiding.

"Link, are you sure you can do this?" Ilia asked.

"Maybe, if my plan works." Link said, "You better go find shelter too, this could get rough."

"Okay." Ilia said, she gave Link a gentle hug before running off.

The trees around the village shook slightly before a familiar large looming being came walking in. It was Bottomless Gabbron, the exiled Goron that defeated Link three months ago. He was wielding the bone from before, only now modified into a giant club with stone attachments. In his other hand was a piece of meat which he was chewing away at before throwing the rest into his mouth.

"You called Thrasher?" Gabbron asked.

"I think ya know the drill Gabbron." Thrasher said grinning, his braces giving off a gleam of light from the sun, "Give this kid the beating of his life."

"Goody" Gabbron said, "I remember you, the carcass I tenderized last time, I'll have fun doing it again."

"We'll see about that." Link said, brandishing his sword.

Gabbron roared out as he raised his club into the air and brought it down at Link, who quickly rolled out of the way. Gabbron tried to hit the spot Link was in, but he backflipped out of the way and struck the bone part of the club with his sword, leaving a small cut on it.

"Told you Mr. Hero," Thrasher said, "No sword can pierce that guy's skin, or even dismantle his weapon!"

"Guess you're right." Link said, "That's why I need a new trick!"

Gabbron was confused by Link's words, but swung right at Link with his club, before Link hopped up and suddenly shot off in the blink of an eye.

"Huh…?" Gabbron asked, looking around. Thrasher too was confused, as he looked around for Link. Then something shot by slashing at the top of Gabbron's club again. Gabbron looked around wildly before something shot up and smacked into his foot, causing the monster to shout in pain.

"Who did that?!" shouted Gabbron.

It was then they saw Link coming at him riding on top of a strange device, it was a bronze-yellow color, and shaped like a child's toy top, only it had what looked like a gear circling it.

"What the heck is that?" Thrasher asked as Link rode past Gabbron, smacking him again with the object.

"This is the Spinner," said Link, "a treasure from Arbiter's Grounds in Gerudo Desert. It's one of the tools I used to take down your old bosses!"

"Graaah! You little pest! Stop moving!" shouted Gabbron as he smashed the ground around him with his club, desperately trying to hit Link. After a while, Link quickly bounced on the Spinnner and onto Gabbron's rocky back, using the cracks to shoot up to the top of his head.

"Get… off!" Gabbron said, he did a small jump which sent Link flying,

"Link!" Ilia shouted from her hiding place.

"Haha!" Gabbron shouted, "Now I'll send you flying to the sun!" He held his club like a baseball bat and swung it straight out at Link.

"Heh, you fell for it!" Link said, flipping the Spinner so it slammed directly into the club, the two attacks met at the same time, neither side backing down from the impact.

"What the heck?!" Thrasher said, watching the young man carefully.

Link pressed down on the Spinner, which grinded against the club, while Gabbron was using his strength to try and push Link and the Spinner away. Soon Gabbron could hear a slight crack.

"Hahaha," laughed Gabbron, "I broke your toy!" He swung the club with all his strength, sending Link and the Spinner flying high into the air.

Link landed to his feet safely, while the Spinner impacted into a cliff wall, embedding itself inside it.

"Ugh, I was hoping it'd last longer then that." Link said. He turned and looked up to Gabbron, who was slowly walking towards him.

"Now, I'll crush you!" Gabbron said, holding up his club. However, it was then that he heard a slight cracking sound.

"Well, it worked at least." Link said grinning.

"Huh…? What's that?" Gabbron asked, looking towards his club. His eyes widened when he realized what the cracking was.

The club soon broke apart to pieces, rendering it a pile of pebbles and bone marrow dust.

"AAAAHH!" Gabbron shouted with tears streaming down his eyes, "My club!"

"How the heck did that thing-" Thrasher started, but then it dawned on him, "Wait, the sword! I get it; he kept slashing at the club to make a cut just big enough that the Spinner thing could drill right into it!" He couldn't help but shake his head and grin. "That guy's good."

Gabbron however, wasn't too pleased. He roared at the top of his lungs.

"That club was my favorite! I built it myself from the bone of one of my most delicious meals!" Gabbron shouted.

"Oh, did I break your toy?" Link taunted, brandishing his sword and shield again.

"This is bad," Bo muttered to Ilia, "Even with his skill, he won't have any chance of beating that Goron with just that sword. We need to tell him to escape an- Ilia?" The father looked around in the spot he and Ilia were hiding in, but couldn't find her.

"How dare you…" Gabbron told Link, towering over him, "I'll crush you with my own two hands!" he roared and charged at Link.

"Fine then, put em up!" Link said, charging at him in return.

It was then that Link stopped in his tracks, seeing in shock that someone else was in between him and Gabbron. The person was standing their ground, doing their best to hold Gabbron back.

"W-What?!" Gabbron asked, realizing his hands were blocked by a new person he didn't recognize.

"Ilia?!" Link exclaimed.

Sure enough, it was Ilia, holding Gabbron back from attacking Link. She had her feet planted on the ground firmly and both her hands gripping the Goron's fists, and sporting an angry glare in her eyes.

"W-Who are you now?!" Gabbron asked.

"Link's backup." Ilia said simply, she started pushing on Gabbron to try and force him back.

"Geheheh…" he laughed, "A puny lady like you can't match up to my…" Gabbron then realized something was wrong, "…power…?" Try as Gabbron could, he couldn't crush Ilia, she was actually holding him back.

"H-Hey Gabbron, quit fooling around!" shouted a Bulbin, "You can take that fat-ass lady! Smash her into a pulp!"

Gabbron growled and applied extra force to Ilia, but she held her ground and pushed Gabbron back a bit, before lunging forward and smashing Gabbron in the gut with her palm.

"Graaaahhhh!" shouted Gabbron in pain, being forced back quite a bit.

"A-Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?!" asked one of the bandits, "D-did that lady… j-just… drive back Bottomless Gabbron?!"

"You hurt me…" Gabbron muttered, rubbing his stomach, "I'll crush you for that!" He charged right at Ilia and slammed into her with a shoulder charge, Ilia screamed out and flew back from the impact.

"Ilia!" Link shouted, he stood from the hiding place and was about to attack Gabbron, but Bo grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"Wait." Bo said, "Just watch, Ilia's got this."

Link looked to Bo oddly, then to Ilia, seeing that she stopped herself, and didn't look like she was in much pain.

"Whew… this is rough…" Ilia said, "I would need to fight off this brute like he's a…" It suddenly dawned on her, "Yes… like in my training!" Ilia started walking towards him slowly.

"Ready for another round?" Gabbron asked grinning. He brought back his fist and wound it up, ready for a powerful punch.

Ilia stopped up to him and stood still. She took a deep breathe and watched Gabbron carefully. When Gabbron threw his fist forward, she shifted her weight and took a step to the side, completely avoiding the punch. Gabbron looked in shock as he stumbled a bit, giving Ilia the chance to deck him in the side with a palm smack.

"Whhhhaaaatttt?!" shouted the Bulbin bandits, by this point their jaws were dropped to the ground and their eyes were shooting out form their heads in shock.

"Wait…" Link said, "Isn't that style of fighting your-?"

"Correct Link," Bo said with a grin, "She's using her new found bulk to stand up to that Goron, in the same way that our family has done for generations."

Ilai grabbed Gabbron by his arm and summoning all the strength she had, swung him around in circles and threw him down to the ground. She looked down at the Goron with a determined glare.

"The family sumo wrestling style!" Bo concluded proudly.

Punk Thrasher didn't say a word; he just stood in place watching carefully.

"Get up Gabbron!" shouted the Bulbins, "Don't let her win!"

"Graaahh… graaahh…." muttered Gabbron, slowly forcing himself up, breathing heavily. "GRAAAAAHHH!" he shouted, flexing his arms, "I've had it with you, stupid lady! I'll tear your head off, and eat your meat!" Practically foaming at the mouth, he rushed at Ilia with his hands out.

Ilia stood her ground and allowed his palms to impact into hers, and the two started pushing each other, trying to overcome the other. Ilia was starting to weaken, and sweat ran down her face.

"I am the all powerful Bottomless Gabbron, I've destroyed mighty warriors and Gorons alike! 'll smash you! I'll crush you! I'll gobble you up, as well as that green hatted brat!" Gabbron shouted in a blind rage.

"You… will… not… hurt him… again!" Ilia shouted out to Gabbron. She pulled her arms up, let go for a split second, before quickly lunging forward and smacking Gabbron in the gut with her palm, then going into a rapid motion, stepping forward smashing him in the body with her palms. Ilia didn't let up for a second, not giving Gabbron any chance to counter, until he was left staggering.

"You got him on the ropes Ilia!" Link shouted. By this point the whole town had caught up to the scene and were watching the fight. "Take him down!"

Ilia threw her arm back and putting all her strength into it, threw it forward, smacking Gabbron in the stomach, this caused the giant Goron to lurch backward, foam flew out from his mouth as his eyes turned a blank white.

"Im… Impossible…" muttered Gabbron before he fell backwards and impacted into the ground, unconscious.

"AAAAHHHH!" the Bulbin all shouted at once. "Gabbron's been… defeated?!"

Ilia let out a sigh of relief before falling backwards onto her rear, propping herself up from behind with her arms. The villagers cheered out as Link ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"Ilia," Link said, "That was incredible!"

"I'm… sorry… I got… in… the way…" Ilia said, her face a bright red from a combination of embarrassment and exhaustion, "I just… wanted… to help… you…"

Link grinned, "Its fine Ilia, you did more then I ever could against that guy, I'm proud of you!"

"Link…" Ilia muttered, still blushing.

"So Mr. Thrasher," Bo said walking out from the hideout, "It seems we've beaten your whole gang, ready to quit?"

"Heh… not likely." Thrasher said, "After all, you didn't beat my whole team, I'll still up and ready, right?"

"Yes, but you're also outnumbered." Bo said, the other villagers all held their weapons out as if to agree with him, "Maybe you should qui-"

"Wait Bo." Link said, standing up and walking up to Thrasher, "I'll fight him myself."

"Really Mr. Hero?" Thrasher asked, "You just want to have a 1–on-1? Mano-e-mano?"

"Yeah," Link said, he threw his shield to the side and went into a fighting stance with his sword. "No allies, no extra tools, no tricks, just you and me."

Thrasher simply grinned, showing off his braces.

"Sounds good Mr. Hero, I was really hoping we'd get this chance to fight." He took a chain from his belt and undid a cufflink on it, then swung it out, revealing it to be a twelve-foot long chain. He swung it as effortlessly as a leather whip into his hand.

"Let's go."

\---


	9. Clash of Steel

\---

Link and Thrasher stood still, staring each other down, and preparing themselves for their battle. Link was wielding his sword, and Thrasher had his chain whip.

Ilia, Bo, the villagers and the bandits were all watching, some in excitement, some in anticipation and others in fear. No one knew just what would happen.

"So Mr. Hero," Thrasher said, swinging his chain whip to the side, "Ready now?"

"Yeah," Link said, "Let's finish this."

With that, Thrasher swung his chain over his head and lashed it at Link, who leaped over it and swung his sword straight down at Thrasher. Thrasher quickly pulled his chain up and grabbed it with both hands, using it to block the sword from coming down on him. Link then dropped down and swung his sword at Thrasher, who quickly jumped backwards just far enough away from the sword, and then swung his chain downwards, hitting Link across the back.

"Woah, that Bulbin guy's a better fighter then he looks!" Talo said.

Link staggered back a bit, before lunging at Thrasher. The Bulbin swung his chain horizontally to smack Link, but the young rancher rolled under it. Thrasher looked down in surprise as Link brought up his sword and slashed it upwards, but Thrasher managed to lean backwards to avoid the slash by a hair. Link then quickly leapt backwards into a series of flips to avoid the chain before it could hit him.

'Whew,' Link thought, 'This guy has great reaction time…'

"Not bad!" Thrasher said, "But let's see you get around this!" He sprinted forward, then thrust the chain straight forward, it shot as fast as a bullet. Link quickly leapt out of the way in time before it impacted into a building, leaving a large hole in it.

"Okay, time for a plan…" Link muttered, he sprinted off in a hurry as Thrasher retracted the chain and shoot it out at Link. The chain blasted into walls and cliff sides trying to hit Link. Link started to turn his body and run towards Thrasher, who sent the chain straight at him. Link leapt over the chain as it impacted into a cliff side, but then surprisingly landed on top of the chain and ran across it.

Thrasher looked in shock and couldn't react in time, as Link shot across the chain and swung his leg up, kicking Thrasher in the face before slashing down his chest.

"Graaaahhhh!" Thrasher shouted in pain. He pulled back his chain just as Link leapt off of it. He swung it over his head like a lasso and threw it forward, wrapping around Links' foot, then swung it upwards and then down, smashing Link into the ground.

"I got ya now Mr. Hero!" Thrasher said, pulling back on the chain and swung Link at a cliff side. Link recovered in time to kick off the cliff and leap up high. He pointed his sword downwards at Thrasher. The Bulbin reacted and leapt backwards, forcing Link to land to his feet and sprint straight at him, Thrasher swung his chain, but Link countered with his sword, the two clashed and smashed against each other's weapons, trying to overcome the other side.

"Graahaahaa, this is fun!" Thrasher said, "But I'm gotta start getting' serious. Time for my best technique!"

Thrasher then swung his chain right at Link's sword, wrapping around it and sending it down to the ground in front of the Bulbin. Link narrowed his eyes and ran at the sword, but Thrasher grinned and swung up his leg, blocking Link off, then kicked him so hard it actually sent Link flying into the air.

"Link!" Ilia shouted in worry.

"Grahahaha! Time for the power of my technique, Steel Tornado!" Thrasher shouted, spinning his chain. He spun it so fast it created a wide funnel-like shape to anyone watching. Link fell downwards right inside the funnel and was bashed and smashed around by the spinning steel chain.

"Gaaaaaahhh!" Link shouted in pain before falling to the ground. He was covered in bruises and bumps, but forced himself up.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised," Thrasher said grinning, "that someone who survived Gabbron's beatdown could take my technique at least once."

Link ignored Thrasher's comment, and looked down at the sword beside the Bulbin, who was swinging his chain, ready to attack him. Link took a deep breath and darted straight at Thrasher, who reacted by shooting his chain at Link.

Link leapt over the chain's jab attack, rolled to the right avoiding a second jab, did another roll to avoid a third shot, but unfortunately couldn't dodge the fourth attack, being struck across the cheek.

"Ha, got ya, now I'll- huh…?" Thrasher realized that he couldn't retract the chain. Link had managed to grab the chain with the fourth attack and hold it back.

"Looks like I got your chain." Link said with a smirk.

"Why you lousy…" Thrasher said as the two started pulling on their own side of the chain. When Link saw Thrasher was pulling as hard as he could, Link grinned and let go of the chain, sending Thrasher flying backwards. Link took that chance and lunged out, grabbing his sword and swinging it at Thrasher, slicing him again.

"He did it!" shouted Beth as the crowd cheered.

"That's… it…" muttered Thrasher, slowly getting up. "Time for another Steel Tornado!"

Thrasher started swinging his chain out, Link tried to pull back his sword to prevent from losing it again, but this time the chain managed to wrap around Link's body instead. Thrasher then started spinning Link around in circles and then up into the air, sending Link flying up. Thrasher then spun his chain in the funnel-shaped tornado, as Link was about to fall directly into it.

Wielding his sword, Link narrowed his eyes and dove straight at the tornado.

"Link, don't!" Ilia shouted, "You'll be torn up!"

"Listen to the girl Mr. Hero," Thrasher shouted, "I'm the leader of this gang, one of the most feared in all of Hyrule! I'll teach you that here and now!"

Link dove straight into the center of the tornado, gripping his sword; he swung it into the very dead center of it straight at Thrasher.

With a loud clash, it was all over.

Link stood behind Thrasher, who could no longer move an inch. Link stood up slowly and sheathed his sword, as if it was a trigger, when the sword snapped into place, Thrasher's chain broke into hundreds of pieces, as blood shot out from Thrasher's body.

"Gaah… gaaahh… graaaaahhhhhhh!" shouted Thrasher in pain. His sunglasses started to crack and soon fell to pieces; the Bulbin fell backwards and impacted into the ground.

"I-it can't be…" muttered a Bulbin. "H-He beat the boss!"

"They won… a bunch of hick villagers beat them?!" shouted another.

"They beat all three of our strongest warriors?!" exclaimed a third one.

As they said, all three of the strongest members of the Bulbin gang, the ruthless Stabby Dokue, the exiled Goron known as Bottomless Gabbron, and their leader Punk Thrasher, all lay sprawled out on the ground, their eyes whited out from unconsciousness.

"L-Let's…. let's get outta here!" shouted a Bulbin bandit. The lot of them quickly gathered up their unconscious allies onto their riding beasts and carts, they tied Gabbron to a warthog, and without so much as taking a single thing from the village with them, rode off out of the village.

"And don't come back!" Talo said proudly. The villagers let out a cheer and gathered around Link, who was staggering a little from his battle injuries, to praise him for his victory. Ilia herself ran up to Link and hugged him, actually minding those injuries this time.

"Link, you were amazing!" Ilia said.

"Not bad kid," Rusl grinned, "But next time, copy someone else's technique!"

"Heh, thanks guys…" Link said, trying his best to put on a strong face when his body felt like a bag of soft oatmeal.

"Still, I couldn't believe how good you did Ilia." Beth said in astonishment, "You beat that Goron like it was nothing!"

"Yeah, when'd you get so strong?" Talo asked her.

"Um…" Ilia pondered, "Well… I was just doing my mother's exercises, but I... um..."

"Your... mother's?" Bo asked in confusion.

"Yes, mom had written notes on ways to exercise, and suggested a type of dietary supplement called chanko that I've been eating in my meals." Ilia explained.

"Notes…" muttered Bo.

"I still can't believe she managed to do all that. That was some grueling work lifting and pulling boulders." Ilia said.

"Wait, Ilia, your mother wasn't exercising from those notes, that must have been my sumo wrestling training guide." Bo said.

"Huh?" Ilia asked blankly.

"You see, your mother had been out on a trip to Castle Market Town to do some shopping, and met with a first class sumo wrestler while she was out there. When she told him that I was having some trouble getting stronger, he provided her with some training exercises to make myself capable of competing in heavyweight tournaments. They focused on building arm and leg strength, and increasing my overall weight to make me heavier." Bo explained.

"T-Then the chanko…" Ilia said, looking paler by the second.

"That? That's a type of calorie supplement that sumo wrestlers add to their food to help them gain weight, it can even stimulate the appetite to make it easier to eat more." Bo said, "No wonder you've been picky lately about which plate was yours at dinner."

"T-Then all the training I was doing wasn't to lose weight… but… to… make… myself a… sumo… wrestler…" Ilia said, starting to get woozy.

"Looks like it Ilia," Bo said, "But I couldn't be prouder of you. You stood up to that Goron and gave him the beating of a lifetime! Course, you'd probably need more training if you want to take on professional wrestlers. That guy was tough, but looked way too out of shape to stand up to someone of your training!"

"I…. I see…" Ilia said, growing a bit dizzy before letting go of Link, standing in place for a few seconds, and then impacting into the ground face first.

The crowd all stood around Ilia, staring down at her. She just laid there in the ground.

"….Link?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah Ilia?" Link asked.

"…you're still okay with the way I am right…?" she asked him.

"Yes…" Link answered.

"Even though I turned myself into a heavyweight sumo wrestler?"

"Yeah."

"… okay…" Ilia said. There was silence for a few seconds, before she added, "If it's okay with everyone, I'm going to just lay here for a while."

A little while passed, as the villagers got the hint and went about their separate ways to rest and fix the village.

\---

Meanwhile, the Bulbin bandits were riding out of the forest. Their defeated allies laid on the back of beasts and carts, Thrasher himself laid on one of the front-most warthogs.

"Hey, we're almost out of the forest!" said a Bulbin, "We don't have long before we can get everyone some treatment!"

"I still can't get over that we lost…" said another.

"I say when the boss and Gabbron get better, we get back there and stick it to them!" said a third Bulbin.

The other Bulbin were nodding and cheering out, however their bravado was silenced by a familiar voice shouting.

"No we aren't!" Thrasher said, lying on the back of his warthog. His hand was covered his eyes, which weren't quite used to the sun due to normally wearing glasses.

"B-Boss?" a Bulbin riding beside Thrasher asked.

"We ain't going after that village anymore. We fought them with everything we had and lost. " He explained, "Ordon Village and it's people have, as far as I'm concerned, earned the right to live in peace, and I won't take any back sass from any of you guys sayin' otherwise!"

"You sure about that boss…?" asked the Bulbin.

"Sure as hell." Thrasher said, "I also want you guys to spread the word. Any gangs that try to lay one claw on that village has to answer to Punk Thrasher, got it?"

"R-Right boss!" said the Bulbin.

Thrasher just laid back and grinned; his braces gave off a small glint of light from the sun shining through the trees.

"Go on Mr. Her-… …. Link," Thrasher muttered, "Live your life as you please now. You've earned the rest of a true hero."

"So, uh, boss…?" asked the Bulbin, "That reminds me, did you ever decide on a name for our gang yet?"

"Graahahaha," laughed Thrasher, "I already told ya I'm still working on it, you gotta give an injured guy a break."

'After all' he thought to himself smiling, 'What kind of leader would I be if I couldn't give my team the most perfect name I can think of..."

\---


	10. Epilouge

\---

"Annnd begin!"

Two large figures rushed at each other and slammed their palms together, each side trying to force the other back. Soon one of the two quickly threw up the arms of their opponent, grabbed their belt, and used it to heave the opponent to the side and out of a ring shaped arena.

"And there you have it! It's over! A big applause for our newest champion, 'Sunflower' Ilia!"

The crowd cheered and clapped for the person in the center of the arena, Ilia herself. It had been an entire year after the battle against Punk Thrasher and the Bulbin bandits, and having accepted her new look and lifestyle Ilia had gone through training by her father to become a true sumo wrestler.

She had been put through weight training to ensure her arms and legs were muscular, a diet to help her bulk up in weight, and discipline courses to help her maintain her calm demeanor, even in a difficult match.

The results were definitely effective. Ilia was much bigger then ever, with powerful limbs that allowed her to toss around her opponents and a large body that made her as heavy and sturdy as a large boar. She wore sumo garments that complimented her new career well, a top strap that covered her chest and a large belt with leaf-shaped sashes hanging from it. She even had grown out her hair and styled it into a top-down ponytail to show off for her matches.

Ilia let out a soft sigh and smiled brightly, waving to the crowd.

\---

Sometime later, Ilia was leaving the changing room and out into Hyrule Market Town. She was now wearing an extra large yellow sumo robe with an orange sash holding it together.

A crowd of people gathered around to meet with her, congratulate her on her victory and ask for autographs. Not quite used to this kind of attention yet, she looked around nervously and anxiously, trying to find someone she knew to help her get out from the crowd. Thankfully for her, someone grabbed her arm and lead her away from the crowd.

"Hey Ilia," Link said grinning, "Congratulations on your win."

"T-Thanks Link…" Ilia said blushing. Despite being in such rough and brutal competitions, she never lost her pleasant personality, and to her friends and family she was just as they had always known her.

"So you ready to start heading back to the inn for a rest?" Link asked.

"Um… actually, there's a place I'd like to go first." She replied. She lead Link to the marketplace, where they eventually met with one stand that looked familiar to Link.

"Ooooooh." Link grinning snidely at her.

"Oh don't be like that!" Ilia said with an annoyed pout. She turned to the shopkeeper to greet him. "Hello Mr. Tort."

"Ah, Ms. Ilia, so good to see you here!" The old man with the large wrinkled forehead greeted her. "I heard about your victory in today's tournament, that's pretty impressive!"

"Thank you…" Ilia said, a little too busy staring down at the pastries lining his stand's shelves, "So I see you have a nice amount of sweet rolls… I'd like to get seven please…"

"Just seven rolls?" asked Tort, pulling out a small bag to store them in.

"No, seven dozen." She said with a small smile.

"S-Seven dozen?!" shouted Tort, the wrinkles on his forehead rolling up his head until they pushed his chef's hat off. "Y-Yes! Of course! Coming right up!" He discarded the bag and instead got a box to start loading them up.

"Wow Ilia, that's way more then what you used to get." Link said.

"Well, now that I'd won that tournament, I'm going to advance to the next league where the super heavy weights will be competing, I um… I need to bulk up more to prepare for that…" Ilia said, "D-Do you mind?"

"Come on Ilia, how many times do I have to tell you? You're fine to me." Link said, giving her a hug.

Ilia couldn't help but enjoy the hug, even though Link couldn't get his arms anywhere close to around her like she had planned so long ago, she didn't mind anymore. While insecure about her weight at times, overtime she grew used to the way she was now. It greatly helped that Link was so supportive in her new lifestyle.

After paying for her sweet rolls, the two of them continued down the road.

"So anywhere else you wanted to go?" Link asked.

"Weeeell…" Ilia said, thinking to herself for a second, before smiling a bit mischievously. "There is one little thing we should probably do while we're in town… I believe you owe me a free dinner for winning."

Link reacted with shock. "O-Oh… did I say that?"

"Uh huh!" Ilia said, "You said if I won this tournament you'd take me out to the nicest restaurant in the Market Town, and that I could take my pick of the menu!"

"Ugh, how much Black Chu juice was I drinking when I said that…?"Link asked himself, looking in his wallet pouch to see how many rupees he had.

Ilia then took Link's free hand, holding it gently in hers, surprising Link. He looked to her, seeing she was hanging her head down a bit in embarrassment.

"Besides, before we meet up with everyone else… I… I'd like to spend a little more time together… alone..." she said.

Link couldn't help but turn red at what she said, but smiled.

"Sure thing."

And with that, the two headed off to the restaurant, neither really noticing nor caring that they didn't let go of each other's hands.

\---

"Hey, where's Link and Ilia?!" Talo shouted in annoyance, looking around the town square, "We were supposed to meet up to go to The Crazy Cucco for dinner!"

"Maybe they got lost…?" Colin asked, looking around.

"Haha, I wouldn't worry about it." Bo said, "I think they're too busy with other matters, what say we just go get dinner ourselves?"

"Oooooh… other matters…?" Beth said with a knowing grin, "What kind?"

"…nothing you need to be seeing." Malo said, pushing her and Colin off to the Crazy Cucco restaurant, with Bo following after them laughing. Talo let out a grumpy grunt before going to catch up to the others.

"Can't believe we got left behind!"

\---


End file.
